And All Because of a Ring
by rajanakhi
Summary: AU. While escaping from his psycho mother, cross-dressing as a girl, Shuichi ends up on a pirate ship...
1. Chapter 1

So I know I promised I wouldn't start anything new until False Light and 3 Years had been completed, but… I just couldn't help it! This idea hit me and I had to write it down!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything involved with Gravitation

-xXx-

"No. Not now, not in a million years!" Shuichi declared, folding his arms in front of his chest and giving his assailant a look that would hopefully clarify the fact that he was quite serious.

"But Shu, sweetie," His mother implored, ignoring Shuichi's adamant refusal, " think of your sister. She needs your help."

"What about me? I'm eighteen years old! I think by this point I should be allowed a normal life. A normal _boy's_ life."

"I agree dear, and I'm sorry to have to ask you to do this, but you've heard the rumors about Lord Jason! Do you really want to allow your sister to go on a date with him?"

"No… I suppose not. But she shouldn't have agreed to it in the first place!"

"I know, I know. How about this, if you do this for your sister I promise neither Maiko nor I will ask you to dress like this again. Ever."

Shuichi sighed, twisting his silver ring – a family heirloom – around his middle finger. That was a promise he had heard many times before – perhaps not pertaining to this exact situation, but he had heard it nonetheless and he knew too well that his mother had no intention of keeping it. Yet as much as Shuichi wanted to reject his mother's proposition once and for all, he knew it would do no good. One way or another his mother would be the victor.

"Alright. Fine. I'll do it."

Shuichi's mother clapped her hands in excitement, "Thank you Shu, you really are a doll!" Shuichi didn't say anything in response and simply stood still as his mother gave him brief hug before running out of the room to tell Maiko the 'good' news.

Three hours later, Shuichi found himself sitting in an ornately carved and decorated carriage listening to his mother ramble on about the terrible deeds of The Black Pirate. He cast an annoyed glance at his mother; there were some things in this world that were morally wrong and making a boy promenade around in women's clothing was most certainly one of them. Yet here he was, dressed once again in one of his sister's many gowns, this time a forest green one with cream colored ribbons and lace. This, combined with the wig of long amber tresses his mother had some how managed to get, ultimately transformed him into an exact duplicate of his beloved sister, Maiko.

As children, Maiko had insisted that Shuichi play dress-up with her. Their mother had found the spectacle so endearing that she often convinced Shuichi to don one of Maiko's dresses simply so she and Maiko could coo over how cute he looked in it. But at least in those situations he wasn't going to be seen by the public. Currently, he was en route to a "date" with one Lord Jason whom Maiko had arranged an outing with and then decided she didn't want to go after all. One would think a simple letter saying "Sorry, I changed my mind." would suffice. But no, this stupid Jason guy was just too important to do something like that to so of course dressing the son in drag was the obvious choice.

"Shuichi stop fiddling with that thing! It's very unbecoming." Shuichi looked up, his mental rant interrupted by his mother's nagging voice.

"Huh?" He asked unintelligently.

"That ring, darling. Stop playing with it. In fact, you should probably just take it off all together."

"What? Why?" Shuichi asked, his irritation at the situation making him behave in a much more difficult manner than usual.

"Shuichi, dear, it's just not feminine enough. You'll be more convincing without it."

"Mother. I look exactly like Maiko. The ring won't make a difference." Shuichi argued, unwilling to remove the ring from his finger.

"Shuichi, he'll notice it! Besides, it's just a ring; we did not go through all this effort for you to ruin things with a silly ring. Now take it off."

Shuichi glared but conceded, "Fine." He slipped the ring off of his finger and dropped it into the handbag that "matched his outfit perfectly" according to Maiko.

Shuichi turned to look out the window, fuming over the loss of his ring. He was rarely, if not ever, without it! One of these days he was just going to disappear, then they would be fucked. Shuichi froze, enthralled by the brilliance of that thought. That was it! He wouldn't run away per say just disappear for a few days. He could probably find a place to stay for a couple nights or something. Shuichi nodded to himself, that seemed like a pretty good plan. Now for the escape…

Shuichi stared intently out the window, searching for the opportune moment. Finally he found it: they had reached the town center, a place full of noise and people, lots of people. In a place like this it would be easy enough to meld into the crowd and escape. Before he could give himself time to reconsider his decision, Shuichi leaned out the window and shouted "Driver, stop the carriage!"

Before the carriage had even come to a complete stop, Shuichi was out and running through the crowd, ignoring the shocked cries of his mother. He darted through the mess of people as quickly as he could, suddenly remembering another reason why he hated this dress-up game his mother and sister insisted on playing; running in skirts was so damn difficult. Yet as wonderful as it would have been to rip off the skirt so he could run faster, Shuichi knew it would be best to maintain the guise of a girl – at least until he found men's clothing.

He rounded a corner and began heading for the backstreets where there would be less people and where his lady-like mother would be hesitant to follow. Shuichi glanced back, looking for any sign of his mother. Finding none he felt a small spark of hope flare inside, perhaps they had lost track of him. Distracted by his victory, Shuichi neglected to notice the man who had stepped right into his path.

"Fuck!" Shuichi cursed as he fell backwards into the dirt and immediately bit his lip in silent reprimand; ladies did not use profanity.

"Pardon me, miss. Please, allow me to assist you." A silky voice from above said and a tanned hand was stretched into his line of vision. Shuichi hesitantly took it and allowed himself to pulled to his feet.

"Thank you, sir." Shuichi said, refusing to make eye contact as that might provoke a conversation; something one should avoid while trying to escape from a possibly psychotic but certainly angry family member.

"It's Eiri, if you don't mind. And you are…?"

"Shu – …Maiko." Shuichi stated shortly. Finally looking up simply so he could give this Eiri guy a 'fuck off' look. He was pleasantly surprised when the sight that greeted his eyes was not a scruffy, dirty looking man but rather a clean-shaven man with striking blonde hair that had clearly been colored so due to hours spent underneath the sun. As far as Shuichi could tell, the rest of Eiri was just as tanned as the hand that had reached out to help him moments before. But the aspect Shuichi found the most interesting aspect, however, was the tattoo that was only partially visible on the upper part of his right collarbone. Shuichi could make out what he thought was the head of dragon; the rest was hidden by the blonde's black, open-chest shirt.

"See something you like sweetheart?" The man asked with a smirk.

Shuichi blushed but gave the man his best glare anyway. "You wish. Now if you'll please excuse me I have somewhere I must be."

"Of course. It was a pleasure to meet you, Maiko." Eiri said, giving Shuichi another smirk and a nod of his head before turning and re-entering the bustling crowd of people that lay beyond the alleyway. Shuichi shook himself out of his awe-struck daze and reached down to his handbag; feeling a sudden urge to have his ring back on his finger again. The bag however was no longer there. And then everything clicked into place.

"Fucking bastard." Shuichi muttered under his breath before taking off in the direction the blonde had headed. Unfortunately fate, it seemed, hated him on this particular day for when he looked out into the crowd there was not a trace of the rather attractive thief. Shuichi gave a groan of dejection; his mother was most certainly going to murder him.

Shuichi stood for a while, staring mindlessly at two men who were apparently doing some sort of negotiation. One of them started waving a hand in a wild and upset gesture. The man's wrist turned in the direction of Shuichi and he could see a tattoo of a dragon on it. Shuichi stepped closer and nearly let out a cry of victory, the head of the dragon was exactly the same as the one he had seen on Eiri. Shuichi melded back into the crowd, keeping careful watch of the tattooed man. After all, this might be his only lead to his family's heirloom.

As soon as the tattooed man started walking away, his deal successfully completed, Shuichi began to follow him.

-xXx-

Eiri made his way up the plank that led to his vessel, feeling quite pleased with how his day had gone. Usually in a city as big and well protected as this one, he was reluctant to leave his ship. Today however, he had been feeling lucky, and what do you know? He had managed to relieve quite a few people of their purses with no detection. Eiri paused, all day he had been thinking about the first girl he had stolen from. The long curly hair and slender figure had refused to leave his mind, not to mention the fiery purple eyes. Judging from her clothes, she was probably fairly wealthy too…

Curiosity piqued, Eiri reached into his pocket and pulled out the green handbag that had belonged to the girl. Weighing it in his hand he frowned; it was lighter than he expected it to be. Nevertheless, he emptied the contents into this hand; six coins and a ring fell out. Eiri quickly returned the rings to the purse but kept the ring out for closer inspection. The band was thick and had small, delicate hammer marks all over it. In the center lay a black stone, an opal from the looks of it. Eiri frowned, the style of the ring was definitively masculine, certainly not something a young girl would have. Flipping it, he examined the other side and nearly dropped the ring in shock when he saw the crest of the Shindou family glaring back at him. If there was one family even he was unwilling to go up against in these godforsaken islands, it was without a doubt the Shindou family. Mr. Shindou was one of the top English strategists and had been sent down to the Caribbean to directly control the armada and indirectly control the colonies. If this girl was of relation to him, it was definitely time to move on.

"Johnny!" Eiri called out to his first mate.

"Aye sir?"

"Let's get out of here!"

"Aye, aye cap'n!"

Eiri nodded once at his first mate and dropped the ring into his pocket before heading below deck to check on the newly acquired, and very much illegal, cargo that was comprised of goods that they would sell at various ports. By the time he had finished checking everything, he and his crew were well out to sea, the girl and ring had completely left his mind, and he found himself very much in need of some rest. Eiri made his way back up to the deck, gave Johnny orders to wake him if anything happened and headed into his chambers. Needless to say he was quite unprepared for the ball of fury that seemingly came from nowhere and tackled him to the ground.

"What the fuck!" Eiri hissed as he wrestled with this unknown person. He quickly managed to over power the person and pinned them to the ground beneath him. Eiri's eyes widened as he recognized the person. He promptly masked his shock and got to his feet, pulling the girl up with him. "What are you doing here?" Eiri asked, keeping his voice low and even.

"Give it back!"

Eiri stared at the girl, Maiko was it? in confusion. What on earth was she going on about? Then he remembered. The ring. He pulled it out of his pocket and held it up.

"Is this what you're looking for?"

"Yes! Now give it back!" Shuichi shouted, lunging at the sliver ring held delicately between the blonde's thumb and pointer finger.

"Why? Does it belong to your boyfriend? Do you need to return it? Or was it stolen perhaps?" Eiri taunted, praying that one of his guesses was correct.

"I didn't steal it and it certainly does not belong to my boyfriend, I don't eve have a boyfriend." Shuichi growled. "It belongs to my family, now hand it over."

Eiri swallowed a annoyed sigh and smirked instead. "Well, well. You're part of the Shindou family, then."

"Yes…" Shuichi affirmed slowly, staring at the man with suspicion. "What about it?"

Eiri's smirk grew; perhaps this could work in his favor. "Do you know who I am, Miss Maiko?"

"…Is this a trick question? You already told me your name. It's Eiri."

"People aren't always who they seem, Miss Maiko. Tell me, have you ever heard of a man called The Black Pirate?"

Shuichi started tapping his foot impatiently. "Yes. I have. Who hasn't? He's the most feared man. Now what is your point?"

Eiri didn't say anything, he just sat down in his chair and waited for the young girl to figure it out.

"Oh shit."

-xXx-

So… what did you guys think? I may or may not switch this from Yuki/Shuichi to Draco/Harry (Harry Potter) depending on the feedback but for now it's staying in the realm of Gravitation.

Also to any of you following 3 Years, the next chapter is currently in the revision process and should be posted soon. As for False Light… well... I'm working on it.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I just have to say the one bad thing about getting good feedback on chapter 1 is that I now feel like I have something to live up to…

Disclaimer: No part of the Gravitation Empire is mine

**--xXx--**

The Black Pirate. To most people it was simply a name to be feared. No one knew what he looked like, no one was even sure what his ship looked like. Everything surrounding the man was a mystery yet here he was, sitting quite comfortably with a smile on his face right in front of Shuichi who was quite suddenly very concerned for his well-being.

"Well…um it was nice to meet you Mr. Eiri…I'll just be going now." Shuichi said, making a beeline for the door.

"That's fine by me, but I certainly hope you can swim long distances." Eiri stated nonchalantly though he effectively halted Shuichi's escape attempt.

"I'm sorry?"

Eiri shrugged his shoulders, not moving from his seat. "Well you're welcome to try to leave, I just want to be certain you can swim before you go, jump off my ship and drown yourself."

Shuichi felt his heart freeze as the situation sunk in. "We're not in Barbados anymore?! When did we set sail?"

"I'd say we've been sailing for a good few hours." Eiri looked at 'Maiko's' horrified expression and gave 'her' a look of mock concern. "Oh, I'm sorry did you not want to come on this little voyage?"

"Of course I didn't! Why the hell would I?!" Shuichi stormed back to where Eiri was, glaring daggers at him the whole time. "Now take me back."

Eiri gave the girl a cold smile. "No."

"My father will have you hanged for this." Shuichi did his best to sound as threatening as possible.

"Which is precisely why I'm not taking you back."

Shuichi was a bit taken aback by the calmness of Eiri's response but quickly recovered. "Fine then. What are you going to do with me?"

"Do with you?" Eiri repeated, feigning surprise. "Let's see… I haven't really thought about that… I suppose I could just hand you over to the crew…"

Shuichi's eyes went wide. "What?! You can't do that!"

"You seem to forget that this is my ship and that you are most definitely not supposed to be on it." Eiri countered.

Shuichi glared, trying to think of what he could use as a bargaining chip. "…How about this, you keep me safe, you don't let any harm of any sort befall me from either your crew or anyone else, no making me do anything I don't want to, and you take me back home."

Eiri let out a low whistle. "That's a lot for someone in your position to ask for. Now what do I get out of all this?"

"In return I won't tell my father who you are, I won't give him any information about except how wonderful and …kind you were. Of course you'll also be well-paid." Shuichi added the last part as an afterthought, making a last ditch attempt to appeal to the pirate.

Eiri sat back, pondering the proposition. "That's all very well except for two things. One, how do I know I can trust you? And two, we rarely ever enter that port, it's too full of authority for our liking. There's no way I could convince my crew to sail back just so we could drop you off."

Shuichi chewed on his bottom lip, thinking things over as quickly as he could. When a thought suddenly hit him, this was what he had been waiting for! This was his chance to get away from his cross-dressing obsesses mother and sister and be free! "Well…how about you keep me safe and what not and I will sail with you until the next time feel like heading over to Barbados. During this time you can see for yourself how trustworthy I am."

Eiri couldn't stop the shock from showing on his face. "You actually want to continue sailing with us."

Shuichi gave him a look of defiance. "Only if you promise me protection and no work unless I want to."

Eiri stood up so that he was now only inches away and staring down at a very strange yet decidedly determined young girl. "You really are in no place to be asking for all of this. However, I will agree."

"You promise all of that no matter what?" Shuichi asked in a tone that he hoped didn't sound suspicious while doing his best to fight the smile that was threatening to show.

"Yes, you have my word."

Shuichi didn't even try to stop the smirk that spread across his face. "Well that's a relief. Now I'll be needing some things-"

"Hold on just one minute missy. I agreed to protect you and not force you into anything. Nowhere did I say that anyone would wait on you hand and foot."

Shuichi waved his hand distractedly. "Yes, yes that's fine. I was just going to ask if I could get a change of clothes."

Eiri raised an eyebrow. "Why the hell would I have a dress?"

Shuichi fought the urge to roll his eyes. "I'm not talking about dresses, I'm talking about men's clothes."

"And what, pray tell, would a young lady such as yourself want with men's clothes?" Eiri asked, quickly recovering from his embarrassment.

"Well for one, they're more comfortable and two, I am most definitely not a young lady!"

"You're right," Yuki said thoughtfully, "'lady' doesn't exactly suit you, does it?"

Shuichi didn't stop himself from rolling his eyes this time. "I'm a boy." To prove his point, he reached up and pulled the wig from his head revealing the short pink hair that had been hidden beneath it.

Eiri blinked. "Well, that explains the profanity." He muttered, mostly to himself. "But I must say, now you just like a girl with short hair."

If looks could kill, Eiri would have been dead one thousand times over.

"Right. So what's your real name then? I'm sure it isn't Maiko."

"No, it's not." Shuichi said, deciding to let Eiri slide this time. "Maiko is my sister and also the reason I'm dressed like this. I'm Shuichi."

Eiri nodded his head, making a mental note to hear that story on a later date when he wasn't so tired and overwhelmed. "Well Shuichi, I hope you know this changes things a bit."

Shuichi's eyes narrowed. "You're not going back on your promise are you?"

"No, no. I may be a pirate but I have my honor. Since you're the son, I want you to write a letter to your father saying you made the decision consciously to join the crew of a ship for a short period of time and that you'll be returned eventually. I don't want the government chasing me around. And don't try to put anything funny in it – I plan on proof reading it. Got it?" Shuichi nodded his understanding, too relieved that Eiri wasn't going to go back on his word to say anything intelligent sounding. "Alright then, here's supplies," Eiri waved his hand in the direction of his desk,"we'll have leave it at the next port." That said Eiri slumped back into his chair with his eyes closed.

"Alright…" Shuichi wandered over to the desk but made no move to write. They were both quite for a while until Shuichi decided to break the silence. "Eiri?"

"Hm."

"Wouldn't it be easier for you if you just left _me_ at the next port?"

Eiri opened one eye. "I want to be sure you won't blab my identity to everyone." He closed his eye again. "Besides, I promised I'd protect you."

"Fair enough."

Another long silence ensued but it was broken once again by Shuichi.

"Hey…what about my clothes? There's no way I'm going to wear this dress the whole time."

Eiri opened both eyes this time. "Just be patient and write the letter will you! I need to think of a way to explain this to the crew."

"Oh. Right. Sorry." More silence until… "Why not just tell them the truth."

Eiri did his best to fight his irritation. "Well of course I'm going to tell them truth, the only question is how to best explain it. Now stop talking and work."

"Alright, alright. Calm down."

Eiri settled back down into the chair. The sound of quill on paper filled his ears and Eiri relaxed. In all honesty he didn't need to think about what he was going to tell his crew; they always got the truth – at least most of it anyway. What he did need, however, was sleep, he just wanted the boy to believe he was thinking, not sleeping. He had nearly dozed off when Shuichi's voice filled his ears once again.

"Hey Eiri… How does one go to the bathroom on a ship?"

Eiri groaned. _What the hell did I get myself into…_

**--xXx--**

Chapter numero 2. Good or bad?

**Es**- Thanks. And you'll be glad to know it's staying yuki/shu

**MiniBloodyMurder**-Yuki's too elegant for that lol

**Twilight fasion**- glad you like it, hopefully I'll be quicker with updates on this story than I am on my other ones…

**Chochowilliams**-Pirate stories in general are fun, adding gravitation just makes it that much better :D and thanks for pointing out that the waiting until the end to reveal thing had been done; I was on the fence as to whether I should wait or not. As for the stowing away for a ring, if you love something you gotta do what you gotta do. ;P

**Aardbei ijsje**- Yay for staying Gravi!!! And me too lol

**Truckerhat52**- lol I will, I already like this story too mush to stop it

**DuziInuChick**- Good news, it's staying as a Gravitation fic :D

**Ray**- haha I won't, people seemed very much against it being drarry. I'm glad you like it though.

**Lilgurlanima**- I'm definitely going to continue this, pirates are so awesome!

**Mitarashiidango**- lol not a harry potter fan? ;D I updated as quickly as I could just because your review made me laugh


	3. Chapter 3

So here's the thing with this story. I hadn't actually expected people to like it. So really…all I had when I started were just those 2 chapters of banter. I've been trying to come up with a decent plot off of that and I think I've got one.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything (haha the first time I typed that I wrote "I don't know anything" oops. :P)

--xXx--

Eiri awoke, curled up in his favorite chair, to the gentle rocking of his ship by the water it sailed through. Letting out a rare smile of contentment, he sat up and stretched, loosening his muscles and removing some of the stiffness. He glanced around his chamber and gave a disgusted frown, how had his usually spotless room gone into such disarray? And then he caught sight of a woman's dress thrown haphazardly across the bed. It took a few moments for Eiri to process the meaning of the dress, and when he finally did all he could think about was why the boy had been dressed as a girl in the first place. He had never heard the complete reason for that. Eiri sat for a while in the calming silence of his chambers contemplating the possibilities. But his pondering was cut short as another thought hit him. This room shouldn't be silent. Judging from what he had seen so far, there was no way that kid could stay quiet for long.

'Oh shit.' Eiri looked wildly around for any sign of the annoying, cross-dressing girl…er boy. But he found nothing. Save for an open door. Perhaps he had tried to swim back regardless of Yuki's warning, he sure seemed stupid enough

Eiri quickly glanced into his mirror, brushing his fingers through his hair and rubbing the sleep from his eyes in an effort to make himself look more presentable for his crew – it just wouldn't do to have a captain with a poor appearance. He turned to rush out the door in search of his new (and very much unwanted) charge and found himself face to face with his first mate.

"Ah! Johnny! What do you want?" Eiri shouted gruffly, attempting to cover up his alarm with intimidation.

"Sorry Cap'n. I jus' thought you might want te know…"

Yuki fought the nearly overwhelming urge to strangle the man in front of him. Don't get him wrong, he loved his crew, but sometimes...

"Well I found a stowaway stealing food from the kitchen." Yuki gave a sigh of annoyance, though he couldn't help but feel a bit relieved. "So I pulled out my pistol and-" Yuki froze at the mention of a gun, his ears tuning out everything else.

"You _shot_ him?" He asked in disbelief.

"Er…no. That's not what I said." His first mate replied, giving his captain a skeptical look.

Yuki felt a tension he hadn't been aware of leave his body. But only for a moment. "Then what _did _you do with him?" Eiri asked slowly, almost scared to hear the answer, after all, pirates weren't exactly famous for thinking before acting.

"Well he said he knew you so I, uh, locked him in the food cellar and came to find you."

Yuki turned and quickly began to make his way to the kitchens, suddenly very worried for both his food supply and his kitchen in general.

Nothing seemed out of place in the kitchen; it was perfectly calm and quiet. Eiri had expected to come down and see food all over the place or at the very least he had thought Shuichi would be banging on the cellar door demanding to be let out. But there was nothing.

"You sure he's here?" Eiri asked his first mate who nodded emphatically. Unconvinced as he was, Eiri pulled open the cellar door. Almost immediately his eyes settled on the spot of pink in the far back corner. Shuichi had seated himself on wooden crate, conveniently located near the boxes of strawberries they had picked up in town. …or at least there had been boxes of strawberries, Shuichi seemed to have just about decimated the supply.

"Exactly how long has he been here?" Eiri whispered forcing himself to look away from the idiot in the corner to his first mate. Johnny shrugged and continued to watch Shuichi consume strawberry after strawberry.

"10, maybe 15 minutes at most." He said at last. "I don't understand how this is possible…"

They both continued to watch the "stowaway" as he carefully inspected another strawberry for dirt before biting into it, trying to figure out how such a small person, or any person for that matter had manage to consume that many strawberries in such a short time. Their trance was finally broken when Shuichi took notice of them midway through a berry.

"Finally you're here! Do you know how long I've been waiting in this freezer?"

"Apparently not long enough; at the very least we should have left you in until your mouth froze shut-preferably forever."

Shuichi's only response was to throw the half-eaten strawberry in the general direction of Eiri's head-although he missed by a rather large margin.

"Nice aim, brat. Really. You could be pro."

"Shut up." Shuichi muttered. Deciding it would be a good idea to get out of the death-by-cold room before they decided to lock him in again, he darted past Yuki and this other man who had trapped him down there in the first place and into the safety of the kitchen.

"So…You do know him then." Johnny asked.

"Yes. Unfortunately. I'll explain the situation later though. I need to talk to this idiot alone." Eiri grabbed a very indignant Shuichi roughly by one of his arms and proceeded to drag him out of the kitchen and back to his rooms.

"OW! Eiri that hurt! You have a stronger grip than you think."

"Really?" Eiri said with obvious disinterest. "Well I have a feeling you'll be over it in about two seconds."

Shuichi glared for a moment but soon enough Eiri could see that it was a fight on Shuichi's part to keep it there.

"Alright," Yuki began once he was sure Shuichi was done being angry, "First things first, don't use the name Eiri anymore. From now on it's Yuki."

Shuichi frowned. "Why?"

"Because I said so."

"That's not a very good reason."

"Well it's all the reason you're going to get."

Shuichi gave "Yuki" what he probably considered to be a disapproving adult look.

"Fine, _Yuki_. Anything else?"

"Yes. You can tell me what on earth prompted you to leave the room this morning and wander about on your own."

"I was hungry." Shuichi declared, as if that answer had been plain as day.

"Then why didn't you wake me?"

Shuichi grinned. "Because you look so cute while you're sleeping!" he exclaimed.

Yuki flinched. No way in Hell was he cute. This kid was like a being from a different planet.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that."

"Say what? That you're cute?" Shuichi asked with a bit too much innocence in his voice.

Yuki gave the pink haired boy a warning glare.

Unfortunately it seemed to have the opposite effect.

"Aww now you're angry, how cute!"

Perhaps it was time to change tactics. Yuki gave an exaggerated sigh. "Such a child."

Shuichi pouted and firmly denied the statement to which Yuki just rolled his eyes and said, "The evidence suggests otherwise, kid. But now that the subject's here, how old are you?"

"19, I'll be 20 in a little less than 2 weeks."

Yuki glanced over the apparently 19 year old boy in front of him, trying to find something in the boy's demeanor that proved he was in fact the age he said. Needless to say he found nothing. Yuki shook his head, there was no way this kid was only 3 years younger than him.

"Right. Well." The blond pirate said, deciding to vacate the area before Shuichi remembered the 'cute' thing . "You be a good boy and stay here for a while. I have some things to take care of. …and Shuichi, try not to destroy anything while I'm gone."

If there was a retort, Yuki didn't hear it as he had already shut-and locked-the door.

But now that he was out, Yuki wasn't entirely sure what to do. As captain his duties were basically give orders when necessary. Otherwise…well, he had people. He respected them and let them do their jobs, only interfering when the need arose and in return he made all the strategic decisions for them and provided the fearsome personality they needed when attacking other ships or towns.

So then…what to do… he finally settled on finding his first mate and clearing up the general situation with him. Or maybe just tell him to keep his mouth shut.

Johnny wasn't hard to find. He hadn't left his spot in the kitchen and it seemed that he had even expected Yuki would return as he had found himself a comfortable seat on one of the kitchen counters. When he saw Yuki come in he immediately hopped off the counter and gave a mock salute.

"So who was that kid?" Johnny asked, trailing after Yuki while he looked for something to eat. "He was kinda cute. Thought he was a girl at first."

"Cute? Like hell he is. An Annoyance would be a better term." Yuki called from the cupboard, coming back a few moments later with a couple biscuits and jam. "Brat managed to sneak onto the ship while we were in town. But I'd rather not discuss him right now, I'll get a headache. Let's talk about something else."

--xXx--

When Yuki opened the door it at first seemed like Shuichi hadn't really moved from the spot he had been left in though the blanket around his shoulders suggested otherwise. It was also obvious that he was working intently on something but as his back was to Yuki it was impossible to tell what the project was. He stepped around the boy on the floor, trying to figure out what was so important or interesting that it required all of Shuichi's attention. As soon as Yuki realized just what it was that Shuichi was so focused on he immediately leapt forward, pulling the boy away from his work and kicking at the contents of it. Once he was satisfied that no harm could come of that little pile of wood he rounded on Shuichi.

"What the hell do you think you were doing? Are you trying to kill us all?"

"I wasn't trying to kill anyone!" Shuichi replied indignantly, glaring over at Yuki. "I was just trying to warm up a bit because _someone_ locked me in a freezer all morning!"

"Well _I _didn't lock you in the freezer-not to say you probably didn't deserve it- but either way what the hell would make you think that it's ok to try and build a fire on the _wooden _floor of a _wooden _ship in the middle of the ocean?"

Shuichi pouted a bit. "I could have controlled it."

If Yuki had had even a little bit less self-control, his mouth would have been hanging open at that moment. The sheer ignorance and pure stubbornness of the boy standing before him baffled Yuki completely.

"I need air." He stated blandly after a moment.

"Eh? But you just got back?"

"I know and now I must go again, for my own sanity. How about you just…take a nap or… count the number of wooden planks, anything as long as you aren't making any more fires. And whatever you do, don't leave this room."

Before Shuichi could say anything in protest Yuki had gone. Childish as it was, Shuichi couldn't help but make a face at the door that had just been slammed shut.

"Who does he think he is? My mother?" Shuichi shivered at the thought. No, definitely not. Anyone was better than that crazy woman. But now what to do… Shuichi's fingers unconsciously went to play with the ring on his other hand but were met with bare skin. Oh yeah. The ring.

--xXx--

Yuki didn't return to his quarters until evening, an hour before everyone was to have dinner. He planned to tell his crew about their newest…acquirement then but before he did, he wanted to check on his room.

Whatever Yuki had been expecting, it was a thousand times worse. It looked as if a whirlpool had somehow lifted itself from the water and made a very comprehensive tour of his room. Almost every article of clothing he owned had somehow ended up on the ground or strewn across a piece of furniture and his usually tidy desk was now in utter disarray. It was when he saw the desk that something inside of Yuki snapped and he stormed directly over to the bed where he saw the telltale pink hair. He roughly grabbed Shuichi's shoulder and shook him awake.

"What the hell have you done to my room?"

Purple eyes blinked blearily up at him. "What'ya so upset for. The maid'll clean it." Shuichi mumbled before rolling onto his other side and snuggling back into the pillow. Yuki growled and grabbed the sleeping boy by his ear, dragging him out of bed and very much ignoring Shuichi's cries of protest.

"What was that for?" Shuichi all but yelled once he had been released, trying to rub the hurt from his sore ear. "I told you the… oh. You don't have a maid do you."

"No. We don't. But now that you mention it…perhaps that could be a good position for you."

"WHAT? Like hell it will! You promised not to make me do anything I don't want to do and I certainly don't want to do _this_!"

Yuki's eyes turned dangerous and Shuichi stumbled backwards into the bed trying to escape the deadly gaze. Yuki grabbed the front of Shuichi's shirt and pulled him back, forcing him to make eye contact.

"Let me make one thing quite clear. We are in the middle of the ocean. No one knows you're here. Do you have any idea how easy it would be for me to slit your throat and throw your body overboard?" Shuichi's face turned pale at threat.

"But, you-"

"Promised? I agreed to that silly deal of yours on a whim. I can very easily change my mind. As long as you're on this ship, I'm the one with the upper hand. Right now I'm still willing to make sure you get home eventually, safe and sound, and if you want it to stay that way than I suggest you heed this advice: don't _ever _touch my things again and from now on do as I say. Understand?" Shuichi managed a small nod and Yuki released him.

"Good. I'm glad we're on the same page. Now, if you start cleaning up this mess, I'll go get some dinner. You don't have any allergies, do you?" When no response came, Yuki turned back only to see that Shuichi had curled himself up into a little ball and from the looks of it he was crying. Yuki felt the rare tendrils of guilt uncurl in his stomach. He hadn't meant to scare Shuichi that badly. He started walking back to the bed but stopped. Wasn't this what he wanted? He'd meant to make the boy afraid; it was the best and most foolproof way of controlling another person. Besides, it would be better if Shuichi were afraid of him, that way he wouldn't end up getting attached. He turned back around and headed for the mess hall.

The dining area was full of loud, crude jokes and laughter when Yuki entered but as soon as the crowd took notice of their captain, the room fell into silence. Apparently Johnny couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"Some of you may have already heard," he began, shooting a pointed looking at his first mate, "that we have a new addition onboard. His name's Shuichi and you will leave him alone or answer to me."

"Wha' for." Someone called from the back. "He you're lover?"

Yuki held back an annoyed sigh; someone had clearly been drinking too much. "No. Anyone else have an intelligent question?" Only silence reached him. "Good. Carry on then." After a moment the joking and laughter started up again, quickly escalating to its former noise level.

Yuki considered simply filling two plates with food and returning to his cabin but…he wasn't too eager to return to the situation he had just left. Besides, his crew might think it strange if he stopped eating with them.

A few hours and a decent amount of alcohol later he stumbled back into his chambers, barely taking note of the fact that it was once again clean. Shuichi was again curled up and asleep in the bed. Yuki was on the verge of pulling him out again but he couldn't bring himself to wake the sleeping boy, not this time. Besides, now that he was looking at him properly, he couldn't help but understand where Johnny was coming from when he called Shuichi cute. The longer he stared at him the more the feelings of guilt he had worked so hard to get rid of started to return. Leaning down he pressed a kiss against Shuichi's temple and whispered one word into his ear.

"Sorry."

In the morning he would most definitely blame his actions on the rum.

--xXx--

Awww I hate making Yuki mean! but I felt it was a bit necessary for the story…at least I think it was, I can never be sure. Either way…too late to undo it now. :D And I promise he'll get sweeter from here on out haha.


	4. Chapter 4

I just have to say I am ridiculously excited for the rest of this story. The outline at least is brilliant—according to myself haha. But it should be good and at the very least I'll have fun writing it ^^

Disclaimer: Don't own.

-xXx-

Shuichi leaned against the railing, watching wave after wave splash against the side of the ship. He had awoken in the morning to find nothing but a plate of food and note which read: _"You're free to go where you like as long as you stay out of everyone's way-especially mine."_ Despite the rather lackluster note, Shuichi had to admit that he was more than a little happy to find a large section of the plate had been filled with strawberries. It hadn't taken long for him to consume the contents of the plate but when he had finished, he started to wish he had taken his time. Without all of the lunches, get-togethers, and parties usually planned by his mother to devour his time Shuichi found he really had no idea what to do with himself. He was tempted to explore more of the ship but Yuki's warning from last night was still very clear in his mind and he wasn't eager to have a repeat performance.

So now here he was, staring at nothing but water and wood, bored out of his mind. Truth be told he had expected a pirate ship would be a little bit more exciting than this.

"Do that the whole trip and I guarantee you'll have lost your mind by the end." Shuichi turned, fully expecting to find Yuki with his usual annoyed expression but instead was greeted with the sight of a smiling brunet.

"So you're the new guy our captain picked up, eh?" The pirate said, leaning against the railing next to Shuichi.

Shuichi inspected the man before him, trying to decipher his intentions, but all he could tell was that he was tall with dark auburn hair that curled at the ends and had vibrant green eyes. However, prior experience with pirates told him it would be best not to trust this one so he glared. "I'm not a stray dog, he didn't "pick me up". He stole something from me and I'm here to get it back."

The brunet laughed, it was a kind, genuine laugh and Shuichi decided he rather liked it; maybe not all pirates were as cold as Yuki. "You're an interesting kid, standing up to our captain. I'm Eric by the way, I'm in charge of the sails on this ship." He said, holding out his hand in greeting.

Shuichi smiled and took the offered hand. "Shuichi. And I didn't know he was a pirate when I got on this ship, otherwise I most likely wouldn't be here."

"Can't say I blame you, we do a damn good job of covering our tracks. But don't ask me to tell you how, that's a secret known only to us permanent residents on this ship." Eric said with a wink. "So," He continued hastily, not wanting to give Shuichi time to pry any further into the former subject, "how do you like our captain?"

Shuichi's smile changed to a scowl and Eric let out another laugh, "That bad, huh? Well he's not the easiest person to get along with, that's certain. But I promise you, he's a good guy—for a pirate."

Shuichi raised an eyebrow but didn't comment.

"Trust me; he would have killed you by now if he didn't want you around."

"Well he _threatened_ to kill me at least." Shuichi said sulkily.

Eric laughed again, "Then I wouldn't worry if I were you. That's as bad as it'll get. He does that to everyone, you shouldn't take it personally."

Shuichi looked at Eric, thoroughly unconvinced. "How can you defend him so much? I haven't heard him say a single nice word to anyone!"

"He's a pirate, love, not a pompous figurehead of the state."

"Believe me I noticed." Shuichi muttered darkly. "At least our "figureheads" as you call them have manners."

Eric sighed. "Look, I don't expect you to fully understand but he is probably the only person on this ship that all of us respect and trust without question—not to mention he's a brilliant strategist. So I guess all I'm going to ask of you is that you don't write him off as a complete villain just yet."

Shuichi opened his mouth to make another argument for his case but stopped, remembering the strawberries that Yuki had left for him this morning. "Very well, I guess it couldn't do any harm."

Eric chuckled lightly at Shuichi's melodramatics. "Alright then, enough about Yuki. Tell me Shuichi, what part of society are you from? I mean the only other person I've heard speak like you is Yuki." Eric paused for a bit, in thought. "You're not related to him are you?"

"What? No! I'm the son of the Royal governor, there's no way we would have _any_ relation to a pirate!"

Eric whistled. "Well, that explains a lot. No wonder Yuki's been so protective of you…" Shuichi couldn't help but feel a little nervous at Eric's reaction; he had assumed that Yuki had told them all his identity, the fact that Eric didn't know made him think that perhaps it would have been best to keep that little fact to himself.

"Uh well…what I meant was…I'm not actually-"

Eric took note of Shuichi's panic and set his own surprise aside, immediately giving him a reassuring smile. "It's ok, you're secret is safe with me." He said, adding a mock bow at the end in jest. "But I suggest you keep that bit of information to yourself from now on."

Shuichi nodded his head in agreement, "So, you're not going to tell everyone?"

"I'll keep my mouth shut—for a price." At Shuichi's indignant expression he just shrugged and said, "Pirate, love, what did you expect?"

"But I don't have anything! Not since your precious captain stole it all."

"Fair enough. I suppose I could settle for a kiss then." Eric said with a wink, all but laughing as he watched a thoroughly embarrassed Shuichi try to formulate a coherent response. Luckily for Shuichi a voice behind him saved him from having to respond.

"Eric, you did here me last night, didn't you?"

"Of course, Captain, I was just being friendly. Hey Shuichi, come find me sometime, I'll show you what I do on this blasted ship."

"Speaking of, shouldn't you be doing your job right now?" Yuki asked with a slightly threatening edge to his voice.

"Sorry Captain, I'm on my way." He sent Shuichi a wink and was off running before Yuki could say anything more.

Shuichi had fully expected Yuki to leave then and go back to ignoring him as he had all day so he was a bit surprised when a hand closed around his upper arm and started pulling him across the deck.

"Come with me."

Shuichi sat himself in a chair and crossed his arms in annoyance. "What did I do this time? Make a friend without your consent?"

Yuki glared at him from where he was standing. "No. I'm just a little concerned about _who_ you're making friends with."

"If you're saying that there are people in your crew nicer than Eric then I'm starting to doubt your status as pirates."

"Look, all I want to say is be careful. Eric's known for being a bit of a playboy-with both men and women and I didn't want you—what?" He asked, noticing a rather ridiculous smile was spread across Shuichi's face.

"Awww are you concerned for my well-being? Yuki that's so sweet!"

"Eh? No! I was just going to say that it's best if you don't get attached to anything or more likely anyone on this ship."

Shuichi's smile stayed the same, "Yeah, uh-huh, sure."

Yuki opened his mouth to say something—most likely mean or crude—in his defense but was interrupted by a series of loud knocks came on the door. "Cap'n! We've spotted a ship on the horizon!"

"Flag?"

"French trading vessel."

"I'll be right there." Yuki called before turning his attention back to Shuichi. "It would probably be best if you stay here until I come back. Got it?"

Shuichi gave a half-hearted nod.

"I'm serious Shuichi, promise me you'll stay put."

"Yeah, yeah, I promise."

Soon enough Yuki was out of the room but it wasn't for nearly 15 minutes that he heard something. He could hear shouts in both English and French along with the clashing sound of steel against steel. After a few moments of painful curiosity, he hesitantly pulled open the door and snuck up the flight of stairs that led to the deck. Very tentatively he stuck his head around the corner just in time to see one of the pirates pull his sword from a Frenchman's body. He couldn't help but watch in horror as blood spilled forth from both the wound and the mouth of the victim before the body toppled over the edge of the ship and into sea below.

"What are you doing up here?" Shuichi jumped at the sound of Eric's voice and turned around.

"I-I was just…" Shuichi trailed off, his throat closing up as the tears started to form. He caught sight of a blood stain on Eric's hand and shirt and did his best not gag.

"I can't believe Yuki would let you come out here right now." He said coldly, guiding Shuichi back down the stairs and back to Yuki's rooms. Shuichi didn't say anything more; he just followed Eric into the room and curled up on Yuki's bed. He had seen men killed before but it was always for a crime, it was always deserved—at least by the courts ruling. But this was different, this was downright murder.

Shuichi wasn't sure how much longer the fighting went on; he could only assume it had ended when he felt the bed dip as someone sat next to him.

"You can't expect me to pity you, I specifically told you to stay down here."

"I know." Shuichi replied softly. "I'm sorry."

He could hear Yuki sigh above him and he slowly lifted his head. "Its fine," Yuki reassured, "I don't mean to sound angry right now I'm just..."

"Worried?" Yuki looked down at Shuichi who was staring back at him with the faintest trace of a smile on his lips.

"Fine. A tiny bit worried."

Shuichi's face quickly became somber again and he moved to sit up next to Yuki, "Hey… why do you have to kill them?"

"It would be bad for us if anyone could give the authorities our identity. Our whole operation out here depends on us remaining unidentifiable."

"I guess I could understand that, though it still seems like a bit much to me."

"Not all of us have had the same good fortune as you. Now come on, get up. It's time for dinner."

Shuichi fell back into the bed and rolled over so his back was to Yuki, the thought of seeing so many people that he knew had committed unnecessary murder just an hour or so before made him sick. "You go ahead; I don't really have an appetite."

Yuki gave a frustrated sigh. "Shuichi, I know you really can't stand doing what I tell you to do, but for once just trust me, you'll feel better with food in you. Or were you planning on hiding out in my bed the rest of your stay here?" When Shuichi made no response and didn't move from his position Yuki slid his arms under Shuichi's body and lifted him off the bed.

"Hey! What are you doing? Put me down!" Shuichi cried indignantly.

"Will you come to dinner on your own?"

Shuichi glared up at him. "Like hell! You can't make me go to dinner if I don't want to."

"Oh really? I beg to differ." Yuki replied simply, making for the door with Shuichi still in his arms.

"Alright! Alright! I'll come! So put me down!"

Yuki complied and Shuichi was shocked to see a quiet smile on Yuki's usually more serious face.

"What?" He asked, crossing his arms and looking at Yuki suspiciously.

"What do you mean "what"?"

"You were smiling."

"Sorry, I didn't know that was cause for commotion."

"It sin't. Unless it's you. Then we should either have a celebration or find a place to hide."

"Wow. Someone thinks he's funny. Now let's go, I'm starving."

As much as Shuichi hated to admit it, Yuki was right, he felt much better with some food and being around Eric's friendly charm helped him relax quite a bit—though that also could have been due to all of the alcohol Eric kept pushing him to consume until Yuki finally made him stop. It wasn't until Shuichi was practically falling asleep at the table that Yuki decided maybe it was time for Shuichi to go to sleep. And went to run a quick check of the ship, make sure everything was running smoothly before going to sleep himself. When he got back to the room he was surprised to find Shuichi was still awake and seemed to be waiting for him. Slightly unnerved by the boy's behavior, Yuki did his best to ignore Shuichi as he got ready for bed. Maybe if he ignored him he could avoid whatever conversation Shuichi had in mind.

"Hey, Yuki…" Apparently ignoring didn't work. "You never told me why you were smiling earlier."

Yuki finished changing his shirt before looking over at Shuichi. "You're bringing that up again?"

"Well the fact that you avoid answering makes me more curious than I originally was. And if you tell me I'll consider letting you sleep in the bed."

Yuki raised an eyebrow at this. "You'll consider letting me sleep in the bed? Might I remind you just who's bed that is. By all rights _I_ should be the one saying that to _you_."

Shuichi frowned at him. "You would actually kick me out after the day I just had."

"Yes."

"Jerk! And by the way you're avoiding the question again."

Yuki sighed. "Fine, fine. Slide over a bit and I'll tell you." Shuichi quickly complied and moved over to the edge of the barely double bed. Yuki climbed in next to him and blew out the candle, sending the room into darkness.

"If you really must know, I was just glad to see that you seem less…upset than you were. I mean as much as I find your normal personality annoying, it's at the very least better than when you're quiet." Shuichi was glad that Yuki blew out the candle before saying that so he couldn't see the blush that spread across his face.

-xXx-

Ok. So… I actually have nothing to say now except review if you feel inclined otherwise see you next chapter!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: obviously don't own anything but the plot…even seb and eric are based off of characters from another anime

X~~~~~~~~~~~X

The next day Shuichi found himself feeling rather green—and according to Yuki he was looking it too. Yuki attributed it to seasickness; saying that his body, now over the shock of all that had happened, simply wasn't used to the constant yet unpredictable rocking of the ship. Needless to say he spent the next two days lying in bed trying to fight off the nausea—either that or doubled over the edge of the vessel, his body divesting itself of anything he had managed to get down. Occasionally when Eric managed to steal some time, he would bring Shuichi water or just try to make him feel better with jokes and stories. Sometimes it helped other times it just aggravated Shuichi more.

On the third day Shuichi's condition started to improve. The way he could tell was that his mind finally started to focus on something other than the sickening effect of the waves against the ship. For starters, food. After a brief debate with himself over whether eating would be a good idea or not, Shuichi decided that it wouldn't hurt to try and made his way down to the kitchen. He was intercepted halfway, however, by Eric who was carrying a plate of food and a glass of water.

"Shuichi! I was just on my way up to you. Yuki told me you were feeling better this morning and I thought you could use something to eat. Come on, let's go sit down."

Shuichi looked down at the plate which was now in front of him and almost laughed when he saw the contents. "Strawberries? I thought I had already eaten them all."

"Well we…acquired more." Eric said carefully, not wanting to upset Shuichi too much at the moment but not wanting to lie to him either.

"Oh. Right. Well thanks, strawberries are my favorite!"

Eric grinned, glad he wasn't still distraught about what had happened. "I know."

"How?" Shuichi threw him a quizzical look mid strawberry.

Eric just smirked at him, making a mockery of mysterious. "Maybe I'm psychic."

"Psychic? Really?" Shuichi exclaimed in excitement. "What am I thinking of right now."

Eric sighed; apparently sarcasm was lost on this one. But hell, why not take a guess anyway. "Yuki." Shuichi's eyes widened in surprise and Eric started to laugh—Shuichi had tried to think of something completely random but all his mind would focus on was the blonde pirate.

"I was actually right? Ha! I knew it!"

Shuichi was utterly bewildered. "What do you mean "I was actually right"? Aren't you psychic?"

Eric laughed and shook his head. "Of course I'm not, we northerners don't believe in psychics." At this Shuichi blushed and pouted, embarrassed and upset by what had just happened. "Anyway, Eric continued, completely ignorant of Shuichi's embarrassment, "What's got you so focused on our dear captain?"

Shuichi's blush went a few shades darker.

"Nothing." He grumbled. Eric gave him a pointed look. "Fine." Shuichi relented. "It's just…he confuses me. Most of the time he's a complete jerk but…occasionally he does something so sweet." Shuichi trailed off, thinking about what Yuki had said a few nights ago. He came back to the present when he felt Eric's arm wrap around him.

"Well, no one ever said love was easy." Eric said, with an air of wisdom and an overly dramatic flourish of his hand.

Shuichi gaped at him. "What?"

"Oh. Am I wrong?"

"Did you miss the part where I called him a complete jerk?"

Eric held his hands up in mock defeat. "Alright fine, point made." But after a few moments of awkward silence he added. "By the way it was Yuki who told me you liked strawberries this morning." He said, disclosing the fact as nonchalantly as possible while watching Shuichi's reaction closely. The pink haired boy paused but didn't say anything, though the small smile and faint blush on his face told Eric all he needed to know. With a satisfied smile on his face the brunet leaned back in his seat and let Shuichi finish his plate of fruit in silence.

"So then." Eric said once Shuichi had consumed the entire contents of the plate, "You feeling well enough to come meet some of the crew? Maybe see a bit more of this wonderful vessel you are now living on?" Shuichi stared at him unsurely; the thought of meeting more pirates unnerved him slightly but if Eric were with him, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad. After a moment Shuichi nodded.

"Great." Eric said, pushing Shuichi up the stairs. "Come with me."

"Hey…" He said as they exited the kitchen. "I've been meaning to ask, where are we sailing to right now?"

"An island." Came the simple response.

"…Just any island?"

He heard Eric break out into laughter behind him. "No. It's a little island that goes by the name of Curacao."

Shuichi froze, he had heard of Curacao from his father, it was where the Spanish conquistadors had much of their treasure stashed. It was also quite heavily guarded.

"Ummm… is that a sane thing to do?"

Eric just shrugged. "You'd have to ask our dear captain about that."

Shuichi pouted a little, wanting to know more, but didn't push the subject as Eric's attention was now focused elsewhere.

"Oi Sebastian!" He called out, gaining the attention of a tall ebony-haired man who was discussing something with the burly blond at the tiller. He said a few more words to the helmsman before jogging over to where Shuichi and Eric were standing.

"Shuichi I'd like you to meet Sebastian, our Quartermaster, Seb, this is Shuichi." He said, when the other got close enough to hear. Sebastian turned his dark reddish-brown stare onto Shuichi, regarding him carefully before holding out his hand in greeting. Shuichi took it and was about to say a greeting when Eric spoke.

"Would it kill you to be a little friendly once in a while?" Eric asked "Seb" impatiently before directing his attention towards Shuichi. "Don't mind his attitude, he's really quite adorable." Shuichi was at a loss as to what to say; this Sebastian character looked anything but cute. Seb on the other hand seemed as if he were trying his best not to reprimand Eric for his comment.

"Anyway Seb, I was thinking of showing Shuichi around the ship if you're interested in joining."

Sebastian breathed a heavy sigh. "Eric, you know we're very close to our destination, now is not quite the time for that."

"Eh? We are?"

A small and very brief smile flitted across Sebastian's face before he gave a word of affirmation. "So I suggest you get back to where you should be before Yuki gets out here." Eric was off running almost before Sebastian finished speaking, calling a hasty apology over his shoulder.

Shuichi watched him run for a moment before turning to Sebastian who was still staring after Eric.

"Umm…" He began awkwardly, not really sure as to what he should say. "So what exactly do you do here?"

Sebastian turned, regarding Shuichi with a cool demeanor that most certainly hadn't been there a few moments ago, "I'm the quartermaster." Shuichi stared blankly back. "In simple terms I'm the second in command."

"Wait…I thought that was—"

"Johnny? Don't be stupid, like Yuki would trust that idiot with something like that. Anyway, speaking of Yuki, you might want to go talk to him, he's up there." Sebastian said with disinterest. He pointed to where the blond stood on a higher part of the deck which was mid-ship and walked off. Shuichi couldn't deny he was utterly perplexed by Sebastian, but he could think about that later, right now he wanted to find out why they were headed for suicide.

"So you're still alive." Yuki said as he heard Shuichi approach. "Such a pity."

Shuichi scowled, like he said earlier: a complete jerk.

"Yuki! I've been sick for three days! Can't you say something a little nicer than that?"

Yuki just rolled his eyes.

"And anyway, how'd you know it was me? …You aren't a psychic too, are you?"

Yuki turned to look at Shuichi, trying to judge if he was being serious or not. "What? No! What the hell gave you that idea?"

"Well… you knew it was me before I said anything so—"

"So automatically you assume I'm psychic?" Shuichi nodded. "You really are absolutely crazy."

"It was a valid guess." Shuichi grumbled to himself. "Anyway, if you're done insulting me, can you at least explain to me why on earth you would want to go to Curacao?"

Yuki gave Shuichi a weird look. "I thought even someone with your brains could figure that out; treasure."

"Yuki—"

"Anyway I'm shocked to say I'm glad you're here." Yuki said, effectively cutting off anything Shuichi had to say.

"Really?" Shuichi asked, his eyes lighting up instantly.

"Yeah. Come along." He said, walking off quickly before he had to listen to any more annoying questions from Shuichi whom was practically bouncing along behind Yuki, overly excited at the prospect of doing something useful for Yuki.

The happiness was quickly and brutally murdered when Yuki pulled the hated green dress Shuichi had been wearing the day they met out of the depths of his closet.

"You kept that thing?"

"Well what did you expect me to do? Cut it up and make curtains?"

"You could have thrown it over the side of the boat. Or burned it. Or better yet, soaked it in blood and thrown it over the side for sharks to attack."

Yuki's eyes flicked over to Shuichi uncertainly. "You do realize it's just a dress. Although now that we're here…mind telling me why exactly you were wearing this when we met? I Thought maybe you just liked to dress as a girl but judging by your reaction just that isn't so."

"Who the hell would like to wear dresses?" Shuichi practically shouted. "Besides girls that is. They're so constricting and bothersome in general. Not to mention frilly and stupid and—"

"Are you done?"

Shuichi glared at the defenseless dress a few moments longer before muttering a "yes".

"Anyway. I need you to put it one again."

"What? Why?"

"Really? Why else would I bring it back out? _I'm_ certainly not going to wear it!"

"But you think I will?"

"Yes. It'll just be for a short while. 3 hours max."

As much as he wanted to say no, somehow the fact that it was Yuki asking made him say otherwise. "…Fine." Shuichi said morosely, grabbing the dress from Yuki's hands and stalking behind the wardrobe door to change. He heard Yuki start to walk away and quickly called after him, refusing to let him escape easily after what he had gotten Shuichi to do.

"Hey! You aren't going anywhere until you explain to me why, exactly, I have to dress as a girl again and also…I need a little help lacing this thing."

He heard Yuki turn and approach once more. "Turn around." He commanded. Shuichi complied without another word so Yuki could lace up the special undergarment his mother had found to make his body look more feminine under the dress.

"Basically all I need you to do is come with me, look pretty, and stay quiet. Think you can handle that?"

Shuichi pouted even though Yuki couldn't see his face. "Why can't I talk."

"Because you'll probably say something stupid and mess things up."

"Yuuuuki! I would not!"

"Ugh. Fine. You can speak but only in Spanish."

"Why only—"

"We'll blend in better that way. I'm done by the way."

"You are?" Shuichi asked, trying to twist around to see if Yuki was telling the truth, "That was fast…"

"Well believe it or not, I've had some experience with those things."

"Yuki!"

"What? Not like—whatever. Just forget it. You just finish getting ready, I'll come get you when we arrive."

X~~~~~~X

So…I know this is short…and I know it's been a while. But I felt bad about how long it's been since I posted anything so I had to post something. Also the word count for the story part itself is the year I was born, I couldn't pass that up. But the next chapter should get more exciting, I think, well maybe. Mkay I need to go to bed now.

Oh! I did want to mention something, I saw a really amazing short on youtube called "new Boy" it's posted by NITVshorts and it's soooo cute! But really heart wrenching, so if you have some time are need a break from fanfics or are just bored with life, I suggest you watch it.


	6. Chapter 6

Review replies:

**Zoiey3**: Now, obviously, haha. As for the next one…hopefully next week as break starts soon :D

**KyouyaxCloud**: ok =^.^=

**Angel Wings-008**: Thank you! I'm glad you think this story is good!

**Lilgurlanima**: haha agreed…oh Yuki, we love him though

**Azkateelia**: Thanks! 3

**Sesshomarubaby18**: I try, I promise haha

**Riddiculusvampire:** hahahaha Sebastian's sexuality is…questionable at the very least. I haven't really decided where to go with it…

**Yaoifangirl89**: I know! So frustrating, it just never fits in with any of the situations I've been writing but soon, I promise! A

Disclaimer: Don't own! -_-

Note before you start reading, I was too lazy to go back and proofread this, so if you see any errors you should point them out :D

-xXx-

Shuichi had just finished perfecting his "hair" when Yuki came back down.

"Ready?" He asked, barely sparing Shuichi a glance as he walked over to his closet and started pulling clothes out, shoving them carelessly into a bag.

"Yeah…" Shuichi said resignedly, watching Yuki's actions with disinterest. "Hey Yuki, remind me again why I'm wearing this."

"Remind you?" Yuki repeated, slowing his motions ever so slightly to turn and give Shuichi a quizzical look. "I don't recall ever telling you the reason in the first place."

Shuichi paused, thinking back through the prior events. "…Hey! Yuki, that's not fair!"

Yuki stopped and turned back to Shuichi. "What the hell are you angry for? It's not my fault you didn't ask the reason."

Shuichi scowled. "Either way, way you should have had the decency to tell why I have to dress up in this stupid costume again!"

"Very well, if you must know, it's because if it looks like we have a young lady such as yourself on board, they will dismiss us very easily. That and the fact that I knew there was no way you would stay put here even if I told you too, at least this way I can keep an eye on you."

Shuichi narrowed his eyes accusingly. "You make it seem like I'm troublesome."

"Um…I'm not entirely sure how to break this to you, Shuichi, but…you are."

"Jerk!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get changed." Yuki said, pulling a few articles of clothing from the depths of his closet.

"Changed?"

"You don't actually expect me to go out into society with you dressed as you are and me looking like this, they'd never buy it."

"I guess so…"

"Besides that," Yuki called from where he was changing, "can you speak Spanish?"

"Well enough. Why?"

"Because, as it happens you and I are a newlywed couple on our honeymoon." Yuki stated as if it were the simplest and most obvious thing in the world.

"…Eh?" Shuichi exclaimed, failing to see any connection to speaking Spanish and being on a honeymoon. "Yuki you're making even less sense than I usually do!"

"Oh? So you admit you never make sense."

"Huh? That's not what I meant!"

"Really…I actually think you were quite clear about it."

"Regardless that's not my point! First of all what does that have to do with Spanish and second of all I am not marrying you!"

"Of course you aren't, stupid, it's illegal for two guys to get married, much as you wish it were otherwise I'm sure. And as for the Spanish, it will give the feeling of education. Now enough talk, let's go." Yuki said, stepping back into sight.

"Yu—" Shuichi stopped more than a little surprised at the transformation that seemed to have occurred. At the moment, Yuki looked as if he could step onto the estate of any high-ranking person and be warmly welcomed.

"What?" He asked, taking note of Shuichi's staring, "Shuichi I know I'm charming, but must you really stare that blatantly?" He pushed Shuichi out the door, shaking him out of his shock and putting him right back into his state of resentment.

"I was not staring." Shuichi said with a scowl. Yuki gave a light cough but other than that made no response.

"There must be a law about this…" The pink haired boy grumbled, pulling at his skirt as he marched up the stairs

"Of course there's a law against cross-dressing." Yuki called behind him; apparently he had rather exceptional hearing. "Usually it pertains to women though…"

"Way to make me feel better."

"Yeah, yeah, shut up and smile, we love each other, remember?"

Regardless of the fact that their relationship was completely fake, Shuichi's heart immediately began to speed up and he nodded, slipping his arm through the one Yuki offered exactly as his mother and sister had taught him.

"When'd you learn to be such a gentleman?" Shuichi muttered at Yuki under his breath.

"Wouldn't you like to know." Yuki whispered back. "Now stop sulking and act like a lady."

Shuichi ignored Yuki, opting instead to glare at Eric who was watching them with an amused expression.

The first step onto the dock nearly threw Shuichi off balance. After acclimating to the constant swaying of the ship, Shuichi was unaccustomed to the feel of solid ground. Yuki must have felt him stumble because his grip on Shuichi's arm tightened.

"Don't embarrass me."

"Shut up." Shuichi didn't have time to say more as a man in an official looking uniform approached them.

The man who "examined" the paper's Yuki handed over, barely glanced at them, opting instead to ogle Shuichi.

"If you're quite done looking at the paperwork," Yuki said crisply once he had had enough of the man's staring, "my _wife_ and I would very much like to be on our way."

The guard grumbled and grudgingly handed the papers back over to Yuki, giving him a dirty look all the while. Yuki didn't spare the man another word, just grabbed the papers and pulled Shuichi away.

"I didn't realize it would be so troublesome to bring you along like this."

"You can't really be blaming me. It was _your_ brilliant idea for me to dress like this."

"Well I couldn't very well leave you alone on the ship, now could I—who knows what kind of trouble you could get into otherwise. Although maybe this isn't any better." Yuki muttered to himself, catching sight of another man who was staring at Shuichi.

"What do you mean?"

Yuki raised an eyebrow, "Really? Your naïveté never fails to amaze me. Whatever you do stay close to me, ok?"

"Aww is Yuki worried about me?"

"On second thought go wherever the hell you want. Just as long as you say you don't know me."

Shuichi scowled and strongly considered removing his arm from Yuki's; only the thought of causing a scene when they were obviously supposed to just blend in stopped him.

"Hey Yuki where are we going?"

"Where else? To find a place to stay; I don't want to carry these bags any longer. If I remember correctly there's a place just up this hill that should be quite suited to your tastes." Yuki said, stopping and turning towards one of the buildings. Shuichi's eyes followed his gaze to a bright yellow house with tidy white trim. A neatly organized garden full of native plants and bordered by a white fence surrounded and stone path leading up to the door cut through the center.

"Isn't this kind of…fancy?" Shuichi asked carefully, trying not to be offensive.

He heard Yuki sigh. "I would have thought you would be happy with this— not to mention accustomed to it—this is one of the nicest places in Curacao. Besides," he said as they neared the man who appeared to be the owner, "only the best for my lovely wife."

Shuichi was sorely tempted to make a face of resentment at the "wife" comment but instead smiled up the man whom he could only assume was the caretaker of the house.

-xXx-

The two wandered down the cobblestone streets, well to Shuichi at least it was wandering, Yuki seemed to have some specific location in mind. Shuichi was more concerned with simply enjoying the sights—Yuki had arranged for each of them to have a bath and Shuichi had nearly died from happiness. With his hair now free of the salty clumps it had confined itself to, absolutely nothing could ruin his mood at the moment—not even the silly dress he was once again wearing. He saw Yuki glance down at him and then look back up, laughing a little.

"If I didn't know better—and maybe I don't, come to think of it—it seems that you rather like wearing that dress."

"Yuki! Don't ruin my mood! I'm glad to be clean, that's all."

"Whatever you say."

"Meanie." Shuichi said with a scowl, his good mood officially spoilt.

Yuki sighed. "Fine I apologize."

Shuichi stopped walking, causing Yuki to halt as well. "Really?"

"Yeah, and if it makes you feel better, I think you look lovely in that dress."

"Awww Yuki you're—wait…was that a compliment or an insult."

"Whichever you want it to be, Shuichi. Anyway, here we are."

"Where?"

"Wh—nothing. Never mind. Just keep doing what you've been doing."

Shuichi frowned, "You want me to keep complaining?"

"Preferably not…actually no keep going with it, it does make you seem more like a girl after all."

"Yuki! Jerk! …And I'll have you know you're incredibly lucky my sister isn't here to listen to your comments."

"Irrelevant as she is not here. Now, you hungry?"

-xXx-

"Hey Yuki…" Shuichi prompted from his chair next to Yuki. After eating, the two had returned back to their accommodations where Yuki had immediately taken out a map and started studying it, making the occasional note on the side. Shuichi had immediately changed out of the dress and, after trying various methods of self-entertainment, decided that bothering Yuki was still his best option.

"Yeah?"

"I have a question."

"Well it's either that or one of your usual idiotic comment."

Shuichi scowled but ignored the remark. "…I was just wondering how _you_ know Spanish."

"Believe it or not, Shuichi, it just so happens that I'm capable of learning things _without_ textbooks or tutors."

Shuichi pouted, "You didn't have to say it with that tone of voice, I wasn't trying to insult you."

The silence endured for a few minutes longer before another thought appeared in Shuichi's mind—one he had actually wanted to ask about since Eric had showed up earlier.

"Hey Yuki?"

"What now?" He asked, clearly starting to get annoyed.

"How did you know I was feeling better this morning?"

"You slept through the whole night without rolling all over the place and waking me up." Yuki said bluntly without looking up from the map that had been drawing all his focus the last forty-five minutes.

"Oh." Shuichi was silent for a few moments more. Scooting his chair a little closer to where Yuki was, he tried again with something a little more dramatic. "Hey Yuki… Do you like me?"

This time Yuki spared Shuichi a glance—if only for a moment—before he turned back to his work again. "Do you want the truth or would you prefer a more diplomatic response?"

Shuichi pouted and prodded Yuki in the arm in an attempt to get his full attention. "I'm serious Yuki, Eric said—" Shuichi broke off, maybe it was best Yuki didn't know about Eric's involvement, he didn't think it would get Eric in trouble, but with Yuki one could never be sure.

Unfortunately for Shuichi his little blunder didn't go unnoticed. Yuki put down the compass he had been working with and turned to face Shuichi.

"And what exactly did Eric say?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Shuichi asked in the worst depiction of innocence. Yuki didn't say anything, expecting his glare to do the work for him but Shuichi just glared right back.

"Whatever. If you're quite done with these ridiculous questions and comments, would you mind leaving me be?"

"But I'm bored!" Shuichi exclaimed, throwing himself forward onto the desk. "Can I at least go explore or something?"

"As annoying as you are I don't want you getting lost and ending up dead somewhere—and no that doesn't mean I like you. Plus at this point you've probably been reported missing and it would be unfortunate if you were recognized. Now you stay put, I'm going to go out for a bit, I'll be back in an hour or two."

"Eh? Can't I come with you?" Shuichi pleaded, not liking the idea of being left alone in this strange place with absolutely no means of entertainment.

"No. You're staying here, understand?" Yuki stated harshly as he gathered up a few papers and threw on his jacket. There was something sinister in Yuki's tone that made Shuichi nodded his head quickly.

"Good. I'll be back soon." And with that Yuki had left, leaving Shuichi alone with his boredom.

It certainly didn't take long for Shuichi to start feeling impatient; in fact Yuki couldn't have been gone more than thirty minutes before he started debating with himself whether it would be wiser to get back into the dress (After all Yuki said not to let himself be recognized) or go out as a boy. After an epically intense amount of deliberation (at least by Shuichi's standards) Shuichi finally decided to stay in the clothes he was currently wearing—if he wore something that could semi hide his face, then he would be in no danger of being found. Besides, he couldn't get the dress back on without help. Throwing on a long coat that he could pull up to cover his face, Shuichi snuck out the door and halfway down the stairs before remembering that Yuki wasn't going to be popping up anywhere to scold him and he continued on in a normal fashion.

There was something incredibly freeing about wandering the streets alone without a guard or even Yuki around to guide him. The sun was just starting to set on the horizon, lighting the city walls up with softly glowing reds and oranges. Wanting to get a better view of the sight, Shuichi made his way up the slope on which the city lay, hoping to find a better vantage point along his route. At last he managed to find a spot, reveling in the last few colorful rays of the sun. It was only after the sun had sunk into the sea that he realized he had absolutely no idea how to get back, nor was he aware of how long he had been gone. A nervous fear gripped his heart and he immediately started to hurry back in the direction he thought the house to be, keeping his eye out for any landmarks he might have unconsciously noticed. As he approached a corner, a group of rowdy and obviously drunk men caught his eye. Suddenly aware of how alone he was, Shuichi put his head down and walked quickly, hoping to pass by the group unnoticed.

Unfortunately for him, that didn't seem to be in the plans.

"Oi! You! C'mere for a minute." One man called out to him.

Shuichi didn't say anything, keeping his gaze locked on the cobblestones as they passed. He heard a whispered dispute among the men but the words were to slurred and filled with slang that he couldn't make out the entire meaning.

Just when he thought he was safe, a hand grabbed him, pulling him backwards with a surprising amount of force. Shuichi all but gagged as a warm, sticky breath reeking of stale alcohol was breathed into his face. The man who was holding onto his arm looked Shuichi up and down, taking in his attire.

"Y'know it's'illegal to dress as a man, don't you, missy?" He said with a malicious grin.

Shuichi glared at the man and tore his arm out of his grasp. "I'm not a girl, you idiot! Maybe if you didn't spend so much time drinking you could see that."

It took a moment for the man to recognize what Shuichi had said but when he did, a murderous look came into his eyes. "Well I guess there's only one way to know for sure." He growled, taking one step towards Shuichi who just stood in his place, eyes wide with fear, regretting his rash comment and wishing he could take it back.

-xXx-

Why am I so mean to Shuichi? I love him so much, I don't understand. * **Sigh *** maybe I'm really just a sadist. Oh well. I guess the question now is what the hell is going to happen to him? Will I let be saved or not? Decisions, decisions.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: don't own anything save for the plot…unless I unknowingly copied it from somewhere else.

-xXx-

Shuichi had just convinced his foot to step away from the advancing man when he was shoved backwards into the painted brick wall behind him. All the air immediately rushed from his lungs on impact and his vision blurred slightly as his head collided with the wall on the rebound. He felt a hand close around his wrist.

"Let go!" He shouted, his tone half anger, half fear. He tried to wrench his arm away but the man seemed to have a death grip on him.

"Aw come on, sweetheart. I promise not to hurt you." The man said, forcefully pushing Shuichi backwards until he had him snuggly trapped between his body and the wall. Shuichi turned his head to the side so as not to gag on the putrid smell coming from the man, closing his eyes in a vain attempt to block the situation from his mind. He had to get away, that much was blatantly obvious. Opening his eyes, he glanced down the alley in the direction he had come, searching frantically for an escape route and nearly choked on despair—the only sight he was greeted with was that of three other members of the drunkard's posse making their way down the alley, intrigued by the commotion. That left the other direction. Just as he was about to make another attempt to pull away, Shuichi felt a disgustingly hot, sticky mouth latch onto the base of his neck and he froze. Teeth scraped harshly at his skin and his need to escape increased tenfold. Using his free hand, Shuichi managed to push the man far enough away for him to escape, but the man refused to relinquish his grip on Shuichi's wrist, yanking him backwards with more than enough force to send him crashing into the street. Shuichi winced, certain that a large amount of dirt and gravel had just embedded itself into his palms, which had taken the brunt of the fall.

"Try that again and I swear this street will be painted in your blood." A cold voice echoed through his ears. Shuichi gasped at the familiarity of the voice and slowly looked up, eyes widening when he saw that it was, indeed, Yuki. Regardless of the fact that the blonde pirate was clearly defending him, Shuichi couldn't control the huge spike in his fear level; never before had he heard Yuki speak in a tone as deadly as this one nor had he seen such a murderous look in the blonde's eyes. The man towards whom Yuki's anger was currently directed didn't really seem to notice the danger he facing, either due to his drunken state or sheer stupidity.

"The hell gives you the right t'say tha'?" The man slurred, glaring at Yuki.

Yuki didn't grace the man with any response, instead turning his attention to Shuichi. "Get out of here. Wait around the corner." Shuichi glanced down the alleyway; the group of men had almost reached them. Yuki followed his line of vision but didn't say anything beyond, "Do as I say and go." This time Shuichi just nodded his head and stood as quickly as he could, relying on the stone wall to support him. He closed his eyes, trying to calm the shaking in his limbs, and ran, not stopping until he had rounded the corner where Yuki had told him to wait. He stood there for a moment, leaning against the wall, struggling to catch his breath while he fought to not cry. Sinking down to the street he held his head in his hands, taking deep breaths and wishing more than anything to be back home.

-xXx-

As soon as Shuichi had disappeared, Yuki turned back to the man and without even the slightest flinch he slammed the man's head against the wall, watching with cold disinterest as the man stumbled around in shock.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Giving you what you deserve." Yuki said, following up his words with a deadly right hook that instantly knocked the man unconscious. The group of approaching men stopped, shocked at what had just happened. Had they been sober, the trio of men probably would have realized at this point that the smartest course of action would be to turn and run. However, alcohol and pride never seem to lead to a happy end. All at once the group descended on Yuki, punching and kicking whenever they felt they should or could, angry at him for hurting their friend in such a way. Luckily for Yuki, their alcohol imbibed minds slowed their punches and threw off their targeting, making it both easy to deflect, dodge and counter them and soon enough they all joined their comrade face-down in the pavement. Yuki gave a disgusted look down at the group of men who were either groaning in pain or completely unconscious, wiping a bit of blood away from his mouth where someone had landed a lucky punch—Shuichi would freak if he saw the blood. He gave the closest man one last kick for good measure before turning heel and tracing the path Shuichi had made minutes ago, hoping the boy had for once done as he had been told and was waiting.

Rounding the corner, Yuki scanned the street for Shuichi. He finally caught sight of him sitting on the ground, curled up around himself. Yuki sighed in relief; at least he hadn't run off or gotten into any other trouble. Walking over to stand in front of him, Yuki nudged him with his foot.

"Oi. Brat. You ok?" Shuichi looked up at him instantly, a flurry of expressions ranging from guilt to relief crossed over his face before he nodded his head.

"Yuki…are you ok?" Shuichi asked softly.

Yuki regarded Shuichi in the dim evening light. "Don't ask stupid questions." He said shortly, "Now let's go." He held out his hand in order to pull Shuichi to his feet. Shuichi looked at the hand hesitantly before looking back up towards the blonde's face. Sensing a question from the pink haired boy was imminent, Yuki cut him off before he stole the chance to speak.

"We'll talk when we get back to the room." Yuki said without any ceremony, he reached down and grabbed Shuichi's arm, yanking him to his feet. Keeping his hand locked on Shuichi just to be sure he didn't somehow manage to disappear, Yuki started to lead him down the street, only stopping when he felt Shuichi stumble beside him. Yuki looked back at Shuichi, taking in his appearance for the first time since he had stepped in to save him. For some reason the boy was no longer wearing his coat and instead had it bundled up in his free arm, hugging it closely too his chest.

"Shuichi, you'll catch a cold if you run around at night dressed like this." He said, reaching forward to take the coat from his arms and retie it around his shoulders.

"No!" Shuichi cried, immediately backing away. "I mean, I'm fine, it's a warm night."

Yuki looked at him, regardless of what Shuichi said, there was no way he would believe that. At the moment, the boy looked positively dreadful, as if he would pass out any minute due to an overwhelming combination of fear, pain and shock and it took all of Yuki's will not to turn around and stamp the life out of the man who had done this to him. Instead, Yuki took the few steps back and lifted Shuichi into his arms without a word, silently making his way back to the building they were staying in.

"Yuki, I'm sorry." Shuichi said quietly, the instant they were safely back in the room. Yuki didn't speak until after he had set Shuichi on the bed and was able to look directly at him. Not that it made a difference as Shuichi was refusing to make eye contact, still carefully cradling his jacket in his arms.

"Why did you leave?" Yuki asked, making every attempt to keep his voice calm and avoid getting angry.

"I'm sorry. I really am." Yuki opened his mouth to make a snide comment about Shuichi's inability to answer the question directly but something about Shuichi's frail demeanor stopped him.

Yuki sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I knew I should have left you on the boat." He said softly, sitting down next to Shuichi on the bed.

The comment caught Shuichi's attention and he looked up at Yuki suspiciously. "What do you mean?"

Yuki gazed down at Shuichi, studying his face, everything from the way his sweet, pink hair rested on his forehead to the way he was ever so slightly biting on his bottom lip in curiosity. Without fully realizing what he was doing, Yuki brought his hand up, molding it to fit against Shuichi's cheek. He brushed his thumb briefly along Shuichi's bottom lip before leaning down and covering those lips with his own. Quite suddenly images of the other man flashed into his mind, his imagination reworking them into being worse than reality and he was reminded that a kiss was probably the last thing that Shuichi needed at that moment. Yuki pulled away slowly, fully expecting to see a look of hurt or disgust or even fear etched into Shuichi's face. However, when he pulled away he found Shuichi was staring at him, wide-eyed.

Yuki watched him for a moment, trying to judge his reaction to the kiss but in the end he couldn't make heads or tails of it. Finally, Yuki cleared his throat and changed the subject, "Anyway, I suppose I should be asking whether or not you're ok."

It took a moment for Shuichi to realize that Yuki was addressing him, and when he did, the only answer he could manage was a quiet "fine" to which Yuki aptly rolled his eyes.

"That's a bullshit answer and we both know it." The blond stated bluntly. "Now tell me where you're hurt."

"Really, I'm fine." Shuichi said, breaking out of his daze now that Yuki was back to being his normal, callous self. "It's just a little bruising." After a moment's consideration Yuki nodded—if Shuichi didn't want to talk about it he wasn't going to press it. He stood up from the bed, removing his shoes and pulling off the more uncomfortable articles of clothing. When he turned back he noticed Shuichi was still sitting on the edge of the bed, he had kicked of his shoes but was still holding tightly to the coat.

"Shuichi give me that, I'll hang it up." Yuki said, holding out his hand. Shuichi looked at him and then hesitantly shook his head causing Yuki to narrow his eyes in suspicion. "Alright, what are you hiding."

"It's nothing I—" Yuki didn't wait to hear anymore of what Shuichi had to say, he grabbed the coat from Shuichi's hands and tossed it onto the bed, ignoring Shuichi's yells for him not to. It landed on the bed with a soft thud and Yuki heard a small cry come from inside and soon a tiny, furry head poked out from the folds of the fabric. It was a small gray kitten, probably no older than three months and it was staring up at Yuki with hugely dilated eyes, probably terrified half to death.

"Shuichi, what's this? Why on earth do you have a cat?"

"I found her while I was waiting for you. There was no way I could just leaver her!" Shuichi exclaimed in defense, moving over to cuddle the kitten back into his arms. "Please don't throw her out."

Yuki sighed, sitting back down on the bed. "Really, it's just one thing after another with you." Shuichi made no response. "Shuichi, I can't keep a cat on the ship, cats aren't fond of such large amounts of water."

"But maybe this one is!" Shuichi said, giving Yuki a pleading look.

"I'm sorry. She can stay for the night, but that's it. Maybe we can find a home for her tomorrow." Yuki said, even though he hated getting the boys hopes up like that, he had to say _something_ to appease him.

"Promise?" Shuichi asked, a painfully hopeful look filling his eyes.

"Y-yeah, I promise." Yuki reached out, gently stroking the kitten's silky fur with the back his fingers. The kitten watched him suspiciously for a moment before rearranging itself in Shuichi's arms and closing its eyes.

"Hey Yuki?" Shuichi asked after a moment or so.

"What?"

"Why…why did you do that?"

"Do what?" Yuki asked, distracted by the softness of the kitten's fur.

"Why'd you kiss me?"

Yuki's hand paused and he looked up to see Shuichi staring curiously at him. "A moment of insanity?" He joked, hoping Shuichi might somehow, possibly, buy it.

"Yuki!"

"Fine. Let me ask you a question first though."

"Ok…"

"Would you mind if I did it again?"

-xXx-

So…what say you? I know, I know, it's kind of short but I wanted to do one more update before I shifted to focusing for finals (someone shoot me now!). Also the tone felt a little…strange to me. I haven't been in the happiest of moods as of late and I think that ends up being reflected in my writing. But anyway, I hope you found it enjoyable nonetheless!

Replies of the Review sort:

Riddiculuvampire: Right? That boy…always getting himself into situations haha

Ray: Thanks! :D

Cookiesfortheneko: AWWW thank you! Your comment made my week shiny! And yay! Shu's safe :D no way could I let anyone other than Yuki touch him like that! Guess I just don't have it in me to be that mean to him…

KyouyaxCloud: Ugh if those two were honest with each other, so much drama could be avoided…but then it would be quite as fun ^_^

Arad D. Hunter: aw glad you like it! And yay! Shu's fine

Angel Wings-008: Yup, there's a slight parallel, but I couldn't let it be fully replicated; I don't like seeing Shuichi hurt, he's too sweet

Lilgurlanima: Of course someone saved him :D How could Yuki not come at exactly the perfect time? Haha

Dragonfire04: aw thanks!

Yaoifangirl: hahaha so impatient! But I promise…or at least I think it will start getting cuter soon =^_^=


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: The only things I own is the plot…and the kitten…kind of…it's actually based off of my friends cat so I don't know if I can count that haha.

Enjoy!

-xXx-

_"Fine. Let me ask you a question first though."_

_"Ok…"_

_"Would you mind if I did it again?"_

Shuichi hesitated and then shyly shook his head. Yuki felt the corners of his lips curve upward ever so slightly and the hand that had been petting the kitten slid up to twist into Shuichi's hair, as he leaned down to kiss him once more.

After a long moment Yuki pulled away, clearing his throat, "Anyway, you should sleep." He said, getting up from the bed.

"Yuki where are you going?" Shuichi asked anxiously. He moved to get off the bed but the kitten in his arms gave an unhappy grumble and he stayed where he was.

"I promise I'll be right back." Yuki said, making for the door without once turning around.

Yuki didn't go far once he left the room; in fact as soon as he closed the door he leaned back against it, staring up at the darkened ceiling.

"She'd kill me for this." Yuki muttered to himself. "But I suppose it's too late to be worrying about that." He said with smile; as much as he wanted to fight it, Shuichi was quickly becoming a prominent part of his life. And he didn't even try to deny that he thought the pink-haired boy was positively adorable.

Yuki hit his head softly against the wooden door. "Fuck."

-xXx-

Meanwhile Shuichi sat on the bed, perplexed and hoping it wasn't anything he had done to make Yuki leave. Looking down at the fuzzy creature he was holding he let out a sigh, "I just don't understand him." He said softly, scratching the soft fur behind the ears of the kitten and eliciting a tired purr from it. Shuichi regarded the kitten for a moment. "Name." He decided finally, "You need a name." He placed his new acquirement on one of the pillows at the top of the bed and then lay on his stomach, gazing at it intently.

"Well, you're gray…so I could call you Ash." The kitten flicked its ears with disinterest.

"No? How about Mio, then?" The small, gray creature let out a yawn and lay its head on its paws. Shuichi picked up the animal and rolled onto his back, holding it high above his head to which it mewed angrily with discomfort and annoyance.

"I could name you Juliet…but then I would have to find a Romeo for you." Shuichi said distractedly, lowering the distressed kitten back to his chest where it immediately sat down and started cleaning its paw, trying to maintain some sense of dignity.

Shuichi stroked the side of its face, thinking back on the various names of people he had known in his life. Finally one stuck. "Mika? The kitten paused in its cleaning procedure and stared at Shuichi for a moment before nuzzling its head up into Shuichi's hand. Shuichi laughed, "Alright then, Mika it is."

Shuichi glanced at the door, wondering when Yuki would be returning; he wanted to go look for him but considering earlier events he didn't think that would make the blond too happy. Instead he cuddled up with his new friend and slipped under the covers of the bed.

-xXx-

Yuki wasn't sure how long he remained outside but by the time he re-entered the room, Shuichi was fast asleep with the kitten curled close to his chest. Yuki slid into the other side of the bed, taking in Shuichi's face as he slept and the gentle way his chest rose and fell with each breath. His gaze came to rest on Shuichi's hand that lay not too far from him. Very slowly, so as not to wake Shuichi, Yuki interlocked his fingers with Shuichi's. When the blonde finally fell asleep, his hand was still grasping Shuichi's.

-xXx-

Shuichi woke at a lazy pace the next morning, Mika was still curled next to his arm and Yuki was lying on his back next to them, fast asleep. Shuichi stared intently at Yuki, fighting an internal dilemma with himself. Finally he lost…or won depending on the viewpoint—and crawled over the kitten so he could lean over Yuki. Shuichi almost screamed when golden eyes opened, glaring up at him.

"Watching people as they sleep? I didn't know you had such…habits, Shuichi." Yuki said lazily.

Shuichi's face turned a rather vibrant shade of red. "I wasn't—that's not—It wasn't for any weird reason!" Shuichi sputtered.

Yuki gave a brief smile, closing his eyes. "Calm down brat, I'm only joking, no need for you to overreact like that."

Shuichi scowled, "Yuki!" There was no response. "Hey. Did you go back to sleep?" Again, silence. Shuichi rolled his eyes and got off the bed, heading off to wash his face and dress. When he got back Yuki was dressed and sitting on the edge of the bed. Yuki observed Shuichi, "What are you wearing?"

Shuichi looked down at himself and then back at Yuki. "Clothes?"

"_Boy_ clothes?" Yuki prompted, hoping for Shuichi to figure it out for himself.

"Eh? You can't be serious!"

"I'm dead serious. Now get changed, we have kind of a long walk."

"Where are we going?"

"Just get changed." Yuki said, tossing the dress at Shuichi's face.

-xXx-

"Are you really not going to tell me where we're going?" Shuichi asked as they strode down the street. He paused to readjust Mika in his arms; Yuki had originally convinced Shuichi to leave the small creature outside of the house they had stayed in, telling him that there would be plenty of mice to chase and the likes. However, it seemed she had taken a liking to Shuichi and had followed carefully behind the pair. Shuichi, of course, had taken immediate notice and when he saw her almost get by a cart he scooped her back up into his arms and adamantly refused to put her down again..

"Can't you just be patient?" Yuki asked.

"Fine." Shuichi grumbled, trying to make Mika comfortable in his one arm. Yuki caught sight of his actions and held back a sigh.

"You want me to take her for a bit?" He asked with a tiny bit of resentment. Shuichi instinctively clutched Mika closer to his chest. "I promise I won't abandon her anywhere."

Shuichi looked up at him suspiciously, "Fine. But if you try and do anything to hurt her or make her leave I won't forgive you!"

Yuki rolled his eyes, highly doubtful that Shuichi would be able to stay angry for too long. "Yeah, yeah, let me take it."

"It's a kitten, Yuki, not an "it"." Shuichi stated stubbornly, though he handed the kitten over to the pirate anyway. Mika was not terribly happy about the new accommodations and made her feelings known by growling at Yuki.

"Don't worry creature, I'm not any happier about the situation." Yuki muttered. Shuichi glared at the comment and Mika just readjusted herself, allowing Yuki to carry her but refusing to acknowledge him.

The three walked through the town, finally coming to the edge where it faded into forest and the road became a small dirt trail. Yuki stopped and looked at Shuichi. "Shu we can't take the cat any farther, this will probably be the place for it, it won't get run over or stepped on out here and I bet there's a lot of rodents for it to chase, it will be happy. So say good-bye." Yuki said, holding the kitten out for Shuichi to take. Shuichi brought Mika to his chest, nuzzling his face into her soft fur. He pulled away, staring into the small face and after a moment he looked back up at Yuki. Yuki took one look at the expression and immediately started to shake his head.

"No. Shuichi we made a deal. Now put the cat down and let's go."

"Yuki no! I can't just abandon Mika here! She needs me!"

Yuki froze, looking back at Shuichi. "Mika?" He repeated softly.

Shuichi nodded, "That's her name."

Yuki looked back down at the kitten that Shuichi had turned towards Yuki so he could see how cute it was, a conflicted expression on his face. "Fine. Keep it. But you're changing the name." Yuki said shortly, turning around and disappearing down the trail.

Shuichi wouldn't deny he had never been more confused in his life, but he could keep the kitten and that was all he cared about. "Yuki wait up!" He called, running after the blonde and trying to avoid catching his skirt on outreaching branches. The rest of the walk was done in silence; Shuichi didn't want to say anything for fear of Yuki forcing him to leave Mika (he refused to change the name officially until he thought of a new one) behind and the aura Yuki was giving off didn't feel incredibly friendly. After what seemed like hours, they came to a smaller, isolated beach, occupied only by a part of Yuki's crew. Shuichi caught sight of a familiar brunette and immediately ran over to him.

"Eric!" He called as he approached. Eric turned and stared in confusion at the girl who was running towards him.

"Who—Shuichi?" He asked in disbelief before breaking into laughter. Shuichi just glared at him.

"Shut up! This wasn't my choice!" Shuichi exclaimed, waiting for Eric to calm down. The brunette just nodded, wiping at his eyes.

"Of course. But if I may just say, you look beautiful." Eric said with a mock bow.

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway what are you all doing here? And where's the boat?"

Eric smiled, "Well, you see, there's no way that we would survive if we tried to attack the city from the sea, they would capture and crush us easily. So our lovely captain came up with the idea of simply distracting the town with ship and while some of us sneak in, steal the treasure, and sneak it back out." Eric said, grinning proudly once he finished.

"That seems…too easy." Shuichi said after a thought.

Eric just shrugged. "Maybe, but I have yet to see our captain come up with a plan that didn't work."

Shuichi nodded his head, mulling Eric's words over in his head—at least until Mika decided to sink her claws into the exposed skin below Shuichi's neck.

"OW! What was that for?" Shuichi demanded, irritated by the pain.

"Aw, who's this?" Eric asked, taking note of the tiny gray creature in Shuichi's arms for the first time.

"This is Mi—er, this is the kitten I found, Yuki's letting me keep it. I found her on the street and saved her."

"He's actually letting it stay?" Eric asked in shock.

"Yeah, though I couldn't tell you why."

"I think I could." Eric said slyly. Shuichi paid no mind to the comment as the kitten had suddenly started squirming like crazy in his hands, begging to be set down.

"Mika calm down!" Shuichi hissed at the small animal, trying to maintain his grip on it. Finally the kitten freed itself, landing gracefully on the sand where it took to cleaning itself.

"Don't worry," Eric said after seeing Shuichi's hurt expression, "She was probably just tired of being held."

"Yeah…"

"Oi, you two." Shuichi looked up at the sound of Yuki's voice. "We're heading out." Eric nodded his understanding and set about gathering his things. "Shuichi, I want you…" Yuki paused, giving Shuichi a scrutinizing look before switching his attention back to Eric. "Eric I want you to stay here with this one and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

"Huh? Sure."

"I don't need a babysitter, Yuki." Shuichi said indignantly.

"Evidence says otherwise. Now stay here." Yuki turned heel and stalked off before Shuichi could make any other argument. Shuichi kicked a pile of sand at the blonde's disappearing form before letting gravity pull him to the ground.

"What a jerk." Shuichi muttered to himself. He heard footsteps in the sand behind him and soon enough Eric was seated next to him, a thin, willowy tree branch in hand. Shuichi frowned, unsure as to what the purpose of such a branch would be, but his skepticism was soon put to rest as Eric dangled the leafy tip just in front of the kitten who immediately tried to bat at it with her paws.

"So how was your stay in town?" Eric asked, mindlessly moving the branch just out of reach of Mika's claws.

"It was…interesting." Shuichi said after a moments thought; there really wasn't any other way for him to describe it.

"Interesting good or interesting bad?"

"A little bit of both, I guess. Anyway," Shuichi said, making an attempt to change the subject. "Where's Sebastian?"

"He stayed on the ship; he's in charge of it in Yuki's absence."

"That guy…he's kind of scary." Shuichi mentioned quietly, remembering the cold look the black-haired man had given him after he left.

Eric laughed at Shuichi's comment. "Yeah, I suppose he could come off as being that way. But I promise, he's really not a bad guy."

"If you say so…" Shuichi lay down on his back, staring up at the sky. Dusk was settling in and the faintest glow of stars could be seen above. "I'm bored." Shuichi complained, rolling onto his stomach so he could doodle in the sand. "Let's go do something."

"No wonder Yuki wanted me to stay and watch you." Eric said with a chuckle. "You can't stay put, can you?"

"It's not my fault!" Shuichi said defensively. He pulled the wig off of his head, running his fingers through his hair in relief at the feeling.

"Alright then…" Eric glanced up at they sky, though the sun was still glowing on the horizon, the stars were quickly becoming more and more prominent. "Do you like stars? I could point out a few constellations."

"Ok!" Shuichi agreed brightly. He pulled the tiny bundle of fuzz onto his chest even as it was still chewing on a leaf from the branch and scooted over to where Eric was lying on the sand, positioning himself next to the brunette so they would both have a similar view of the sky.

"Ready?" Eric started, once Shuichi had settled in.

"Yep!"

Eric observed the sky thoughtfully; he had considered starting with the basics: the Southern Cross, Octantis etc but he had a feeling that Shuichi would get bored with those. Instead he located one that was both easy to spot and had an interesting story behind it. "Do you see that strand of stars over the right?"

"Ummm… which strand of stars?"

"Here, give me your hand." Eric guided Shuichi's hand so it was pointing at the first star. "Now watch, it zigs a little bit as it comes down," Eric said as he traced the pattern with Shuichi's hand. "It hits a point with at this star and then comes up to the right, ending at this little circle of stars. See it now?"

Shuichi nodded his had, tracing and retracing what Eric had just shown him so he wouldn't forget it. "I see it, but what is it?" Shuichi asked, still keeping his focus on the sky above.

"It's two fish, tied together by a rope."

"What? Why? Whoever thought of that?"

Eric just laughed, "Calm down, I promise there's more to the story." Shuichi frowned doubtfully but still let his pirate friend continue. "You see, a long time ago there was a battle or a war, rather, between two sets of gods, the new and the old. One day the young goddess of love, Aphrodite, was attacked while with her son, Eros, the God of Desire. In order to escape she waded into the river, hiding in the reeds. She tied her young son to her so they wouldn't get separated and then the two of them transformed into fish and swam to safety. And that's why the constellation depicts two fish tied together."

Shuichi tilted his head to one side and then the other, his eyes glued to the group of stars, which he gazed at with both renewed curiosity and confusion. "No matter how you look at it, those stars don't look a thing like fish. Right Eric? …Eric?" Shuichi turned his head to see Eric staring intently into the forest. "What is it?" He asked softly, sensing it would be best if he kept his voice down.

"I'm not sure, but I think I heard someone. Come on," Eric said, blindly grabbing at Shuichi's arm, "We should hide, just to be safe." The two ducked into the brush as silently as they could, hiding amidst plants big enough to cover them but with frilled leaves through which they could still see the beach. Sure enough, shortly after they had hidden themselves, two soldiers from the Spanish army stepped out onto the beach, talking quietly between themselves.

"Can you hear what they're saying?" Eric asked quietly.

Shuichi shook his head. "Too far away. But what would they be doing here?"

Eric shrugged, "Maybe they're patrolling. Or maybe we somehow got screwed over. I have no idea. But regardless, it looks like we'll just have to wait for them to leave." Eric shifted slightly, trying to get himself into a more comfortable position. The two stayed like that for what seemed like eons, hardly moving and only making the occasional whispered comment.

"They better leave soon, Yuki and the others should be back any minute." Eric said nervously, keeping his voice low and quiet so as not to be heard.

Shuichi bit his lip, watching the two soldiers as they tossed stones into the surf. The way he saw it, he had two options: he could either do as Yuki said and simply wait, hoping the soldiers would leave on their own or he could once again ignore what Yuki said and make the two men leave. "Eric take her." He whispered, handing the kitten over to his friend and putting the wig back on his head.

"Shuichi what the hell are you going to do?" Eric hissed. But Shuichi was already running out of their hiding spot and over towards the two men, speaking urgently in Spanish. The two soldiers spoke softly between themselves before turning back to Shuichi guiding him down the trail.

Eric watched the entire exchange feeling completely numb and the only thing he could think as he watched Shuichi disappear was, "Yuki's going to murder me."

-xXx-

Elsewhere, Yuki was in a rather good mood; everything had gone according to plan. Sure they had needed to slit a few throats but that was to be expected. Sebastian had created the perfect distraction, making all the citizens go into hiding while the infantry headed down to the docks. He and his men were currently forging through the jungle, though they were close to the path, Yuki hadn't wanted to risk being seen on it and therefore chose to bushwhack. And he was glad he had, a Spanish voice twisted through the trees and all the men hushed their whispering, sinking down into the foliage as three forms appeared: two men and woman. Yuki's eyes widened and then narrowed as he recognized the girl. Did Shuichi really want to get away from him that badly?

"Idiot." He muttered angrily. "If he wants to leave then fine!"

-xXx-

uh oh. Trouble? Aaand as it happens, this kitten is officially staying, and she needs a new name, suggestions?

Review Replies:

Wasabi: Thank you! ^_^

Riddiculusvampire: hahahahahaha ewww no I wouldn't do that to Shuichi! I'm glad you liked it though, I have to say writing it is a nice distraction when I'm supposed to be studying :P

Violet-chi: haha glad you think it's cute ^_^

Lilgurlanima: The response? Positive, of course! haha

Yaoifangirl89: haha what can I say, I am to please ^^ and yep! The kitten's staying, I just couldn't get rid of it.

Angel Wings-008: Thanks for the heads up about wording, I'm going to go back and change that before the next chapter is posted, I also noticed while I was revising this chapter that I started doing repeating myself when I talked about the kitten :P I think I changed most of them but…we'll see. Anyway glad you thought it was cute ^_^

KyouyaxCloud: hahahahaha so true!

So review, what you liked, what you didn't like, cat name suggestions haha. Later then!


	9. Chapter 9

Thank you to everyone who suggested names for the kitten! It finally has a name! It was a weird combination thought process centered around soldiered of Love's suggestion of Rogue with Yuffie's idea of using my favorite video game character (although in this case I used a book character) and in the end I came up with Rue. So if anyone knows which trilogy Rue is from, well, I love you! ^^

Disclaimer: Although I wish I owned Gravitation…it's probably for the best that I don't otherwise it wouldn't be as brilliant.

Um, if you see spelling/grammar errors in here, please point them out, I proofread several times but you know how these things slip through…

-xXx-

"Captain!" Eric shouted, grabbing the kitten by the scruff of its neck and running over to Yuki as soon as he came into view. "Shuichi, he—"

"Don't worry, I saw him." Yuki said briskly, brushing by Eric to stand on the waterline of the beach where he could see his ship coming around.

"Aren't you going to go get him?" Eric persisted, following after Yuki.

"Why should I bother? What he does is no concern of mine."

Eric ran his hands through his hair, perplexed. "But…Can I go retrieve him, then?"

Yuki snapped his gaze away from the horizon, a rather displeased expression fixed on his face as he turned towards Eric. "Why the concern?"

Eric's resolve broke ever so slightly under his captain's cold eyes. "Well…it's just…if he hadn't left with those soldiers, they would still be here…so, I mean, with all due respect, I think it's only right that we help him in return…" Eric bit his lip once he finished

"And what makes you think that he even wants to come back?" Yuki shot back, venom frilling his words, "Did it ever occur to you that he wanted to get away? And maybe he simply saw a chance and took it?"

Erich shoulder's slumped ever so slightly as he realized that Yuki's opinion wouldn't be swayed in this situation.

"Very well, captain. Then what do you want to do with this?" He asked, holding the kitten up. Yuki barely spared a glance at it.

"Toss it into the bushes or something, there's no reason for it to be kept around anymore."

"I can't just leave it here alone!" Eric protested.

Yuki rolled his eyes. "God. You're as bad as he is. Give it to me, I'll take care of it."

Eric reluctantly handed the fuzzy, gray fur ball to Yuki. As much as he wanted to help the kitten there really was nothing he could do; if Yuki didn't want it on the ship, it certainly wasn't going to be on the ship.

Yuki started towards the forest, fully intent on chucking the creature into the foliage and being done with it.

"You know," He said as they walked. "I'm surprised Shuichi just left you like that, he was pretty damn adamant about keeping you…"

Yuki came to a sudden halt, lifting the kitten up to look it in the face. Yuki closed his eyes, massaging his temple "Damn it. Eric make sure that everything gets loaded on properly, I'll be back soon enough."

A grin cracked on Eric's face as he gave a "Yes sir!" and went back to work.

"And watch the damn cat." He called over his shoulder as he stalked off.

-xXx-

Yuki was a little ways off from the outskirts of town when he caught up to Shuichi. Slowing down, he ducked into the shadows, realizing a little too late that he hadn't thought this far ahead. After all what could he say, "Hi, I'm just here to get this idiot—who's actually a boy— and go back to my ship…you know, the one we're currently loading your gold onto."

No. Just, no.

He considered simply offing the two guards but…he had a feeling Shuichi would be pissed beyond belief. …Either that or traumatized which didn't strike Yuki as being an improvement on the idiot's character in any way. Instead he opted to wait until they had reached town, slipping through alleyways and side streets so he could cut them off before they got too far into town.

He hit the main street and started back up it, soon enough he caught sight of Shuichi. Taking a deep breath he started towards them hurriedly, false concern etched onto his face.

"I've been looking all over for you!" He exclaimed, running up to the trio and grabbing Shuichi's shoulders, shaking them slightly before pulling him into a tight hug.

"Is this the man you were referring to, miss?" One of the soldiers asked once Yuki pulled away.

"Yes, this is him!" Shuichi confirmed with a grin.

"Thank you for finding her for me," Yuki said, turning his attention to the Spaniards, "When the pirates attacked the city and Shu...erm I mean she was nowhere to be found, I feared the worst. Thank you so much." The two men looked at Yuki in alarm at this.

"Pirates, sir? Are you certain?"

Yuki nodded his head. "Yes, though the attack has stopped now, the worst damage was down by the docks."

The two inclined their heads respectfully towards Yuki and kissed Shuichi's hand, though Yuki noticed one of them wink up at the cross-dressed boy as he pulled away. "If you'll excuse us then, we'll be on our way."

Yuki watched them walk away, wanting to ensure they were completely out of sight before taking Shuichi back to the ship. When he was satisfied that the two wouldn't be coming back, he turned back to Shuichi—only to find the boy staring at him with wide, adoring eyes and the biggest grin he had ever seen.

"YUKIIII!"

"Don't 'Yuki' me." Yuki snapped, "What the hell were you thinking? Going off like that."

At the very least Shuichi had the decency to look slightly sheepish at Yuki's accusation. "Sorry…but you came for me! So everything's fine!"

"And what if I hadn't? What would you have done?"

"Ummm…"

"Exactly."

"Are you angry?" Shuichi asked quietly.

"I'm not angry, I'm pissed I actually had to walk this far to come get you…and if you _ever_ tell anyone what I said to get you back I will personally feed you to the sharks!"

Shuichi just smiled and stood on his toes, giving Yuki a quick kiss and then going back to his normal height.

"Thank you, Yuki. For coming back for me I mean." Shuichi said softly as he pulled away.

Yuki gave Shuichi a guarded look, assessing him from behind cool, gold eyes before saying, "First of all brat, being serious really doesn't suite you. Second, don't let anything I do go to your head."

"Awww! But how can I not when you're so sweet?" Shuichi proclaimed, latching onto one of Yuki's arms and hugging it tightly.

The pirate just groaned, rolled his eyes and set off for the ship, shaking Shuichi off of himself in the process. The pink-haired boy bounced back quickly, hopping along after him, babbling non-stop about how "wonderful" Yuki was for coming after him and how scary the whole ordeal had been.

Yuki made no comment, letting Shuichi talk to his heart's content, letting the mindless jabbering distract himself from the very confused state of his own mind. In fact Yuki didn't say another word to Shuichi until they were safely on the boat, far away from Curacao and even then all he said was a simple, "Goodnight, brat."

Shuichi pouted, and crawled onto the bed, moving so he was close enough to stare directly down into Yuki's face.

"Shuichi, I'm exhausted, please go find someone else to be creepy to…a jellyfish would be good." Yuki said tiredly, staring up at his charge.

Shuichi didn't freak out at the comment like he had expected. In fact the boy didn't say anything for a long moment and Yuki finally just closed his eyes, hoping the other would take the hint and leave him alone. After a while he felt Shuichi shift and lie down next to him, snuggling against his side.

"And just what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Cuddling." Shuichi replied simply.

"Let me try this again. Why the hell are you sleeping this close to me?"

"Rue's sleeping on my pillow." Shuichi murmured softly, readjusting his head to rest on Yuki's chest.

"Well here's a novel idea for you: move her!"

"I can't!" Shuichi whined, "She's too cute! Besides, I like Yuki better."

Yuki growled. "If I say "get away" it means get the fuck away, you idiot!"

"Aw come on! It'll just be for tonight!" Shuichi argued, "I promise I'll set up a bed for her tomorrow!"

Yuki groaned but conceded. "Fine. But don't hold me responsible if I kick you or throw you off the side in my sleep."

"Promise!" And Yuki could practically hear the triumphant grin that was no doubt in place on Shuichi's face.

"So…Rue?" The pirate asked after a moment, trying to adjust to the feeling of Shuichi sleeping so close to him.

"Mmhmm, you told me to re-name her…so officially her name is Princess Kalianna Rogue Shindou…but I like to shorten it to Rue. Which reminds me! What's your last name, Yuki? I want her to have both of our names." Shuichi declared happily.

Yuki just raised an eyebrow. "I don't think so; the poor creature's got enough names as is."

"Aw come on, just tell me!"

"No."

"Grouch." Shuichi said with a slight pout. "Fine then goodnight!" Yuki grumbled his response and was soon fast asleep.

-xXx-

True to his word, Shuichi spent the next day setting up a little bed for Rue…as well as trying to find a way to potty train her.

Originally Shuichi had thought the best course of action in making a bed for a cat would be to empty one of the drawers in Yuki's desk and put a cushion in it. Yuki didn't find the idea quite so genius. So instead Shuichi replicated his cushion idea using a small crate that Yuki found for him.

After the second day of sailing Shuichi finally made the inquiry as to where their destination lay. Yuki's response of, "just an island we can stash this treasure on," didn't really clarify but at least he knew _why_ they were going wherever they were going.

-3 days later-

Shuichi was lying in Yuki's cabin, lazily feeding small pieces of fish to Rue by holding it over her head so she had to stand on her hind legs to get it when Yuki came walking in, shoving some nautical instruments he had been using into his desk before turning around to leave again.

"We've almost arrived, I'm heading out to help them prepare the boats. Come up once you're done feeding Rue; it's a nice view coming in." Shuichi grumbled at the commanding tone but quickly fed Rue the last piece of fish and made his way up the stairs. And he was certainly glad he did. The vessel was approaching a small island, most of which was the typical forest with white sand beach. But what made this island so unique and beautiful was the steep rocky cliff that stretched for meters into the sky accompanied with three waterfalls that came from seemingly nowhere and slid down the face of it like a sheer veil, disappearing into the dark green forest below. It was the right one that really caught Shuichi's eyes. A little over halfway down the cliff, there was a small overhang that jutted directly into the path of the falling water, sending droplets exploding into the air.

"So, what do you think?" Eric asked, coming up to stand next to Shuichi.

"It's beautiful. I've never seen anything like it."

"Yeah…" The brunette said, nodding in agreement, "It's also haunted."

This finally convinced Shuichi to tear his gaze away from the cliffs he found so captivating.

"H-Haunted? What do you mean?"

Eric shrugged still watching the island that was steadily getting closer. "Well, it's just a rumor. But… have you ever heard of Annie Palmer?" Shuichi shook his head. "She once owned a plantation in this area; they called her the Witch of the Caribbean."

Shuichi stared at Eric with wide purple eyes, both enthralled and terrified by what he was saying. "Why?"

"Well, see, some foolish person taught her the dark art of voodoo and she just loved to use it on her servants and slaves. She would spend her time murdering them purely for the sake of her own amusement. They say it was these caves here where she did her worst magic… because out here, no one could hear the screams of her victims." Eric paused to let his words sink in, thoroughly enjoying Shuichi's expression. "She would often perform ritualistic sacrifices and when she was done, the walls of the cave would be red with blood." The boat gave a slight lurch as Eric finished his last sentence, signaling that they had arrived at their destination.

Eric grinned at Shuichi's horrified face and ruffled his hair. "But don't worry about it, we've been coming here for a few years and there's only been a couple mishaps."

"Mis-mishaps?" Shuichi stuttered, Eric was at least joking about this.

"Yeah, disappearances, falls, and so on." Eric said casually, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go help them prepare to unload the cargo."

Shuichi barely managed a nod as he was quite literally shaking in his boots to the point that when Yuki came up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder he all but had a heart attack.

"Woah. What's wrong with you? Don't get me wrong, you're jumpy, but not usually _this_ jumpy."

Shuichi bit his bottom lip and looked at Yuki pleadingly, as if the pirate could remove all of the dark thoughts Eric had put in his mind. "Eric told me this place is haunted…"

"Oh really?" He asked, completely unsympathetic to Shuichi's suffering. "He told you about Annie Palmer?"

Shuichi nodded timidly.

"Did he tell you why she chose these caves?"

Shuichi didn't move, not sure if it would be safer to say yes or no. Yuki took his silence as a no.

"Before any Europeans came down here, the native people, or Caribs, used this place for…I guess you could say for religious purposes or perhaps for traditions…"

"Religion? Wouldn't that make it a safe place then?" Shuichi asked hopefully.

Yuki raised an eyebrow. "You really set the standard high for ignorance, little one. The Caribs were cannibals. They ate people- slaves and war prisoners mostly."

Upon seeing Shuichi's sickened expression and deathly pale face Yuki sighed, thinking that he had perhaps gone too far. "Shuichi, it's just a silly story. Although I will warn you, if you hear anything strange like music or whispered chanting, don't follow it. For precaution's sake."

Shuichi swallowed. "Maybe I'll just stay on the boat for this one...Spend some time with Rue."

Yuki, who had been on his way to the boardwalk, looked back at Shuichi, "The last place you want to be on this island is alone. Anywhere." Shuichi was at Yuki's side in less than a second.

The blond stared down at the nervous boy and he couldn't help but feel slightly guilty for teasing Shuichi like this; he hadn't expected him to take it so seriously. Reaching out, he brushed some of the strands of hair away from Shuichi's face. "Come on, I'll be right beside you the whole time. This isn't the first time we've been here, we know our way, so the trip will be quick. I promise." Yuki continued walking towards the ladder that would lead to the boat. "Just stay with me, you'll be fine."

It was with extreme reluctance that Shuichi complied but nevertheless comply he did. The operation of unloading the ship took some time, they would load the smaller boat with the goods they had collected, row to shore, and repeat—all of this Shuichi watched in awe, he hadn't realized just how much the pirates had taken. Eventually—much to Shuichi's dismay—they were ready to go.

"Don't you think this is a bit much? I mean, are you ever going to be able to use all of this?" He asked Yuki as the final boatload was emptied.

"Nope. But neither could the original owners."

Shuichi couldn't deny the logic in that.

The journey to their destination—wherever that may be—was slow. There were several rest breaks to ease the strain of carrying heavy chests for such a long distance. For this, Shuichi was glad, not only were they prolonging going into the caves, but the vegetation in the surrounding area was absolutely exquisite. Brightly colored flowers of pinks and yellows bloomed from large, leafy plants. Tall trees, covered in deep green moss towered protectively over them, swaying in the light breeze. In regards to animals, Shuichi didn't see anything but he could hear the constant chatter of tropical birds and occasionally a shadow would cross over them, which Shuichi suspected could be a bird but perhaps was just a leaf in the wind. The peaceful atmosphere of his surroundings managed to sooth Shuichi's fears of the island; there was no way such a beautiful place could be haunted.

After some time, however, the calming sound of birds was swallowed by the roar of the waterfalls and the soft green forest faded to cold, mossy rock. A few minutes later they came to a large basin of water into which the waterfalls Shuichi had seen earlier from the boat fell. A moist chill filled the air as the group made their way to the other side and all too quickly they were at the gaping mouth of a cave. Yuki stepped to the side and motioned for Sebastian to take a torch and lead the way.

The air in the cave was heavy and ominous and the footsteps of the men echoed far too loudly for Shuichi's taste. As hard as he tried to keep his eyes trained on the stony path in front of him, some sick, twisted curiosity inside of him made him glance to the side and what he saw made his body become like ice: the water that dripped down the walls of the cave was a dark, rusty red. He must have made some noise or movement because Yuki's arm was instantly wrapped around his waist and pulling him forward.

"Don't think too much about it, idiot." He whispered gently into Shuichi's ear.

Shuichi didn't speak or make any motion to indicate that he had heard Yuki, instead he grabbed the hand Yuki had enclosed around him and pulled it tighter. The pirate smiled and pressed a kiss to the top of Shuichi's head (solely for the purposes of soothing him, of course), thankful that no one was behind him to see; he knew there was a reason he chose to go in back this time.

It seemed to take an impossibly long time to reach the large hollowed out cavern where they would stash the gold. But reach it they did and from there the work was quick; the men seemed to want out of the cursed place as much as Shuichi did as the treasure was simply thrown onto the already decently large pile of treasure.

Shuichi saw Sebastian wave for Yuki to come over and reluctantly nodded his head when Yuki said, "Stay here, I'll be right back."

Wandering over to a nearby rock, he sat down. With an unhappy sigh, the pink-haired boy glanced around, trying not to look too closely at anything yet still trying to see what was happening. His eyes finally settled on traveling along the surface of a dark stream of water, following it to see if he could find the source. Eventually it escaped the dim glow of the torches that filled the cave and ran off into the darkness. Shuichi was about to turn his attention to something else when he caught sight of something sparkling near the edge of the cavern. After a brief debate with himself he got up, figuring as long as he was in sight of Yuki and the rest of the crew he would be safe. He trailed after the light but…never seemed to quite make it close enough to see it. Suddenly the light sizzled and was gone, like a candle doused in water, shrouding the world in black. Shuichi swiveled around, expecting to see the dull, fiery glow not too far off but there was nothing. Looking around he realized with a sickening feeling that he was completely and utterly alone. Heart pounding, Shuichi faced the way he had come and slowly took a step in the direction, wondering if the whispering he was hearing was in his imagination or not.

-xXx-

I'm just going to say this, this fic is not going to become supernatural in the least…at least not more than what just happened. So no ghosts or anything like that…and I'll also say this, Yuki will _not_ being showing up to rescue him this time…I don't think…Since I have yet to actually start the next chapter I suppose anything can happen.

Anyway.

Review replies:

Dragonfire04: Thank you! And thanks for the name suggestions! I liked Princess a lot so of course I snuck it into her full name haha

KyouyaxCloud: haha yep, but at least he comes to his senses in time

Midnight13731: haha awwww thanks! That makes me happy ^^

Soldieret of Love: Thank you! And thank you for the name suggestion!

Angel Wings-008: Hahahaha of course Yuki'll get him out of the situation, it's not like I could separate those two ^^

Riddiculuvampire: Me too! Yuki and Shuichi are so wonderful when they're being cute! …well, they're wonderful all the time but especially then haha

Grand Master Yuffie: haha that he does! Yay I'm glad I'm not the only one who names their pets after video game characters! I was considering naming the kitty after Roxas but then Rue came to me and it just stuck.

Murr: Aww yay! I'm glad you seem to like it so much!

Lilgurlanima: haha no joke…at least he finally figured it out, despite Eric's really terrible explanation.

CookiesForTheNeko: Thanks for the suggestions! They were very much appreciated^^

Cc: haha I try…tried? At this point?

Faith: Thanks for the suggestions! I absolutely loved Mila but it was too close to Mika


	10. Chapter 10

So, sorry about the wait…I got sidetracked with a knew project. I'm not posting it until it's completely finished because it's kind of intense and I'm not sure which direction it's going to take yet.

Anyway. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Don't own!

-xXx-

Unlike the others, Yuki couldn't say he held any belief that this place was haunted. Where his crew—Sebastian being the only one exempt— saw supernatural accidents, he saw poor footing on the risky part of the trail and anyone who was stupid enough to wander off in a dark cave deserved to be lost in his opinion. Speaking of stupid…Yuki looked around trying to find that painfully pink hair that was sure to be sulking in a corner somewhere. Nothing. Yuki barely resisted the urge to punch the wall in frustration and instead turned back to Sebastian.

"Sebastian, you can get the others back to the ship; I have to go look for that idiotic brat."

"With all due respect captain, I'm going to have to say that's a terrible idea; you're life is far more important to us than his."

Yuki just rolled his eyes. "It'll be fine, you know I don't believe in this ghost shit."

"I think, sir, that everyone would feel better if they didn't think you were dead."

Yuki looked Sebastian over, if there was anyone in his crew capable of finding a lost person in these caverns, it was certainly him. But still, Yuki hated having other people do his work for him. And yet, he could see the point…

"Very well. Find him and meet us back at the ship." Sebastian nodded and was gone.

-xXx-

Shuichi had tried everything to calm himself down as he walked. He tried thinking happy thoughts, but somehow those always ended in fire or blood. He also had tried humming a song from his childhood only to find that the tune greatly intensified the creepiness of the situation. He paused for a moment, taking a deep breath in a vain attempt to calm his nerves and gather his wits. Quite suddenly, the sharp sound of a stone as it skidded against the floor of the cave and fell into a pool of water with a soft 'plop' echoed into his ears, though he was certain he, himself, hadn't kicked anything.

Shuichi bit his lip as panic flooding though his veins. "Yuki?" He called hesitantly into the darkness. An eerie orange light appeared, reflecting of the rust-colored stone walls, followed by a tall dark shape. Shuichi remained where he was, completely paralyzed by fear as the figure approached. Shuichi squinted as it got closer, hardly daring to believe who was in front of him.

"Sebastian?"

"If you're quite done exploring places you really shouldn't be in, let's go." The black haired man said curtly, turning to lead Shuichi out of the frightening cavern

"How did you find me?" Shuichi asked as his heart returned to a more normal pace. For a moment Shuichi wasn't sure that Sebastian had heard him, he felt as if his voice had been swallowed by the empty, dark void that surrounded the two of them.

"I saw you walk off."

_And you didn't stop me?_ Shuichi thought bitterly, thinking of all the pain he could have been saved had he not wandered off.

"I didn't think you'd wander this far though." Sebastian continued, as if reading Shuichi's thoughts.

The pinkette was barely aware when they entered the cavern in which the treasure was stashed; in the darkness all he could decipher was a mounded shape from which the occasional clash of torchlight on gold could be seen.

"Where're Yuki and the others?" He asked into the darkness.

"On their way back to the ship. It would only cause unnecessary panic and frustration if we made everyone wait for you."

Somehow Shuichi got the feeling that Sebastian didn't like him much. Opting for quiet companionship, Shuichi spent the rest of the journey through the caves doing his best to follow in Sebastian's steps and slip or stumble over any of the loose stones. When he finally caught sight of the proverbial "light at the end of the tunnel" Shuichi didn't even bother resisting the urge to run and took off past his tall, dark-haired guide, some how managing to stay upright during the entirety of his sprint.

"Shuichi thank God you made it!" A voice behind him exclaimed. Shuichi turned and managed to catch a glimpse of Eric's face right before he was scooped into a hug and swung around.

"E-Eric?" Shuichi stammered through his constricted air supply. The brunette dropped him, laughing in a slightly embarrassed manner.

"Sorry about that. Over-excited I guess." He mumbled, scratching the back of his head.

"I thought everyone went back to the ship, why are you here?"

"Yes, please do enlighten us." Sebastian said sternly, strolling out of the dark, stony mouth as if he were leaving his own home.

"Aw don't be mad! I was just waiting for you two! I noticed you weren't with the rest of the group so I dropped back to make sure you made it."

Sebastian raised an unimpressed eyebrow and started walking down the path.

"And Yuki was ok with that?" He asked over his shoulder.

"Er, well, I didn't _exactly_ ask permission." Eric admitted as he and Shuichi fell into line behind Sebastian. "But I figured he wouldn't mind— especially if it was for Shuichi. Besides I had to make sure you two were alive!"

"And what if we never came back? You would have just ended up trapped on this island, left to fend for yourself or starve."

"I would have managed!" Eric scowled. "And besides, it was _you_, there was no way you would end up lost in there!" Shuichi could have sworn he heard Sebastian laugh, but the image was too strange and he pushed it aside.

Going down the mountain was infinitely quicker—if more tiring for the legs—than going up had been. Eric spent most of the trip teasing Shuichi about getting lost and trying to scare him even more with poorly elaborated horror stories that still somehow managed to send shivers down Shuichi's spine no matter how ridiculous they were. Sebastian seemed apathetic towards the conversation and stayed silent throughout the journey, only speaking again when they stepped onto the sandy strand, barely in view of the ship, giving Eric a short order to run ahead and tell Yuki that they were on their way.

Shuichi practically bounded the remainder of the way to the boat, excited to see Yuki and hold little Rue again. Unfortunately, a single but powerful glare from Yuki prevented him from approaching the blond once they had been rowed back to the safety of the ship and instead he darted down to visit Rue and assure her that he was perfectly safe and would never on his life abandon her. He eventually managed to eat a little bit of food that Eric had brought by, but in all honesty his experience up in the pirates' treasure trove had thrown him off balance and left him with a very poor appetite so instead he took to his new favorite pastime: playing with Rue.

-xXx-

By the time Yuki came down, he was lying on his stomach, pulling a now feathered piece of lace that had once been attached to that much-abhorred dress in an indecipherable pattern for Rue's enjoyment.

"Is it your goal in life to make mine unbearably frustrating or do you just have a knack for being impossible to manage."

"I don't try to be difficult…"Shuichi muttered, releasing the piece of lace which Rue immediately pounced on, further tearing it to shreds.

"Really." Yuki scoffed, unconvinced. "Well you do a damn good job of it."

Shuichi bit his lip and sat up on his knees, forcing himself to look directly at Yuki. "So ah…on a scale of one to ten, how angry are you this time?"

"Did I say I was angry?" Yuki asked coolly.

Shuichi stared uncertainly at Yuki, debating whether or not this was a trick question.

"I'm not angry." Yuki relented once he noticed Shuichi's hesitation. "I was just…" Worried? Concerned? No way he could say that to Shuichi; knowing that idiot, he'd probably have a heart attack from over-excitement and die. So instead, Yuki did something even more idiotic—he knelt in front of Shuichi and kissed him.

"I swear to god brat, how many times will it take for you to learn to just do as I say?" Yuki whispered as he broke away. Shuichi barely managed a few unintelligible noises around his bewilderment.

"Speechless again…I would think you would be starting to get used to this."

Shuichi scowled and pulled away. "How am I supposed to get used to it when you never give me any warning, stupid-head!" Only realizing how childish his statement was after it was said.

Yuki raised an eyebrow at the outburst. "May I just remind you that it was this "stupid-head" as you so charmingly put it, that made sure you got out of those caves."

"That was Sebastian." Shuichi sniffed, maintaining his pout.

"And who do you think told him to go find the idiot that got himself lost in there?" Yuki asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Right.

"Now if you're done complaining, I'm going to sleep." Yuki stated, leaning over to blow out the candles.

"Yuki, wait!" Shuichi cried, suddenly very much afraid of being stuck in the dark again. "Do you, I mean, is it possible for us to leave the lights on for tonight?"

Yuki frowned. "You've never been scared of the dark before. Why the sudden…oh."

"I'm not scared of the dark!" Shuichi objected. "What I meant was, Rue and I aren't situated and I didn't want to try and find my way in the dark."

"Of course." Yuki watched with faint amusement as Shuichi took his time picking his way over to the bed and situating himself and Rue under the covers. Regardless of whether or not the brat would ever admit that being lost in the caves had scared, Yuki knew it had and sick as it was, he found the reaction slightly adorable.

"Rue's not staying in her bed tonight?"

"I thought she would get lonely." Shuichi sniffed. "You know, you could just leave the candles going, they set a nice glow in the cabin."

"Not a chance." Yuki said, blowing out the candle and dropping the room into shadow. "I hate sleeping when there's light." He settled into the bed and turned to the side, wanting to fall asleep but somehow curious to see what Shuichi would do now; that boy was nearly impossible to predict. For a while there was only silence and Yuki thought that perhaps the brat had just shut up for once and gone straight to sleep. Something he wasn't sure was a good thing or a bad thing. But eventually the faint sound of whimpering floated down to his ears.

No way was he going to sleep with this pathetic-ness right behind him.

Rolling back over, Yuki pulled Shuichi close to his chest, stroking his silky pink hair gently. Ever so slowly he felt the boy relax in his arms and soon enough he, himself, was succumbing to the serene feeling that comes with having the warmth of another person against you.

"Yuki…thanks for sending Sebastian after me." Yuki cracked one eye open—not that it did any good in the dark— and then the other, surprised at how serious the usually over dramatic boy was being.

"You didn't really expect me to just abandon you, did you?"

Shuichi remained silent, unsure how to answer: saying no would mean he thought Yuki was a complete asshole. Saying yes would make him seem stuck up and spoiled.

"Well I hoped you would." He finally concluded.

Yuki chuckled, leaning away just enough so he could slide a finger along Shuichi's jaw and place a soft kiss on his forehead. "Diplomatic, brat. You could—" Yuki was cut off by Shuichi covering Yuki's lips with his own for a brief—yet utterly adorable—moment.

Almost as soon as Shuichi broke away, Yuki pulled him back, twining a hand into Shuichi's hair so he couldn't shy away easily and deepening the kiss. Eventually Yuki decided to release him, wanting to put a stop to things before he no longer wanted to stop them. Shuichi gave only the smallest mewl of complaint but then snuggled closer to Yuki's chest, tucking his head comfortably under the blonde's chin.

"Hey Yuki?" A soft voice questioned, just as the pirate captain was about to fall asleep.

"What."

"Why were you so against Rue being named Mika?"

"Don't know. Why are you so concerned about it?" Yuki retorted, though he was fairly certain he already knew the answer to his question.

"I once had a friend named Mika, I lived close to her back in England. She was murdered right after I came down here."

Yuki shifted away from Shuichi, hoping the other wouldn't notice the nervous pace of his heartbeat. "So you decided to name a cat after your deceased girlfriend?"

"She wasn't my girlfriend!" Shuichi protested.

"Right. My mistake. I'm sorry for your loss." Yuki said, tilting Shuichi's head up so he could kiss him again—anything at this point to get his mind off of Mika and that particular train of thought. Shuichi accepted the kiss—and presumably the apology as well—very willingly.

-xXx-

Review replies:

**Kyouyacloud**: haha awws

**Midnight13731**: Haha yay! I'm glad it made you feel better ^^ …and presumably aided in procrastination :P

**Angel Wings-008:** Aw thanks! I hope I'm improving with the chapters : / But seriously. Shuichi needs to break out of this habit of getting himself in bad situations -_-

**Riddiculusvampire: **hehehe yeah, I kind of have an unhealthy obsession with cliffhangers, though this chapter wasn't bad ^^ So cool! I've never been anywhere even remotely tropical so when I was writing that I was really hoping my imagination was totally off haha

**Lilgurlanima**: psh, curiosity would never kill a cat…Shuichi on the other hand…

**Akita aka Sesshomarus luvr:** haha, you def reminded me that I had to update this XD

So guys, drop a review please! Love you!


	11. Chapter 11

**Bows** I am so sorry. I really have no excuse other than I honestly didn't know what to with this chapter for the longest time. But I figured it out! So go! Read!

Review replies =^_^=

Fedski: Arigatou! Sorry for the wait haha

RavenshadowPhantomhive: I have a feeling Ryuichi will make an appearance next chapter Tatsuha is still undecided though…

Angel Wings-008: Aw thank you! I've really tried to keep them as in character as I can in this setting…which turns out is not as easy as I originally thought -_-

Arad D. Hunter: hahaha thanks :D

Lilgurlanima: rare moment? Indeed. Because unfortunately that…*stops talking for fear of chapter spoiler*

Aminaluvr4life: awww thank you! I love those scenes too, I look for any excuse to write them lol

Riddiculuvampire: hehehe enjoy the fluff while it lasts…jk…kinda :P

JasLine: thanks for your review! You'll actually see more of Shuichi's family (and hopefully friends) in the next chapter. Shuichi's father does live with them in the house and I think he'll play a little bit of a role soon enough.

Disclaimer: **sigh** do not own…except the plot?

-xXx-

Yuki awoke feeling warm, safe and perfectly content. A mixture, that upon further thought, made him feel rather unnerved. Very slowly he opened his eyes, gazing down at the source of his content feeling. Shuichi lay nestled in his arms, breathing in that easy, relaxed way that can only be found in sleep.

He hated to admit it, but with every passing morning, Yuki was finding it harder and harder to leave the bed. He wanted to stay, he wanted to see Shuichi wake up and smile up at him with that dorky little grin. Yuki watched the peaceful features of Shuichi's face; it had been three days since Shuichi had wandered off in the caves and each night since, Shuichi insisted on sleeping as close to Yuki as was physically possible. And each time Yuki would roll his eyes and make some rude remark towards Shuichi. But in the end he always agreed. Truth be told was fine with it and as long as the idiot never figured that out, he would probably continue to be fine with it.

There was no way Yuki would deny that when Shuichi had first entered his life he had immediately thought something along the lines of "annoying", "idiotic", or "should be in an institution" at every turn, but now, all of those things he had found so grating at first had, at some point, become a means of endearment. It was easy to realize now why Mika had always spent time with him when they were younger; Shuichi was a constantly bright and happy and was as resilient as the human spirit could possibly be. Yuki frowned ever so slightly. Speaking of Mika, it had been a few days since Shuichi last brought her up—not that Yuki was complaining. It wasn't painful to talk about his sister or anything, by now he had managed to come to terms with the event of her death in his own way, but Yuki just wasn't sure how Shuichi would react to the news that he was related to her.

Yuki shrugged off the thought; Shuichi would only be on the ship for another two days at most as they were currently headed back to his home. Of course he hadn't told this to Shuichi yet—the boy would protest and sulk and probably just find some way to stay on the ship anyway. To be honest Yuki would have gladly let him continue on with himself and the rest of the crew, however, it had been three weeks since Shuichi had boarded the ship and letting him stay was becoming an ever increasing risk for many reasons.

Yuki sighed, yanking his mind away from such thoughts. He should get up, he knew he should, start the day and such. It was just…he was so comfortable here. Perhaps he could stay here for another five minutes Yuki concluded as he slowly and gently threaded his fingers through Shuichi's hair. As long as he was gone before Shuichi woke up…

"Yuki?" Yuki's train of thought came to a screeching halt and he froze, eyes flicking down just enough to lock with a pair of curious purple orbs. "What are you doing?"

Yuki's hand snapped back to his side. "Nothing. There was a bug in your hair."

"WHAT?" Shuichi shrieked, sitting bolt up and shaking he head back and forth so quickly that Yuki was certain he was going to end up with some type of neck injury. He coughed to cover the small laugh that was demanding to be heard and rolled out of the bed.

"Try not to hurt yourself." He scoffed. Shuichi apparently didn't hear him as he leapt off the bed and ran over to Yuki, stumbling over the floor in his haste.

"Yuki! Yuki! Yuki!" Shuichi called frantically. "Is it gone?"

"Let's see." Yuki said, pretending to look through Shuichi's hair methodically and critically. "Nope. You've got a whole family of spiders there." Shuichi yelped and hysterically began to claw his fingers through his hair in an attempt to dislodge the non-existent spiders.

"Get them out!"

"Shuichi if you haven't gotten them out by now, they're probably stuck there forever." Yuki said with a tone of blatant hopelessness as he made his exit. Shuichi could only stare at the closed door in horror.

No. Not ok.

Shuichi's mind went into hyper-drive, trying to calculate a solution to his problem.

Eric. Eric could help, of course he could. Shuichi dashed out of the room and onto the deck, quickly searching all of his friend's usual places. But the brunette was nowhere to be found.

"Hey," he called, grabbing the arm of the first man he saw. "Have you seen Eric anywhere?"

The man shrugged, "Last I saw he was heading off with Sebastian somewhere below. Probably went down to discuss navigation of the next day or so."

"Then that means they would be in…" Shuichi trailed off, waiting for the man to finish the sentence.

"Sebastian's room would be my guess."

"Right. Sebastian's room." Shuichi paused. "And where exactly would that be?"

"Down the stairs take two lefts and it's on your right." Shuichi yelled a thank you as he dashed away, following the unknown-but-friendly man's directions until he came to a closed wooden door.

"Eric!" Shuichi cried throwing the door open. "There's a spider—" Shuichi cut himself off abruptly as his mind registered the scene before him.

"Shuichi!" Eric said in surprised, pushing Sebastian away and pulling his clothes so they were straighter. Sebastian just gave an annoyed sigh.

"S-Sorry, didn't mean to intrude." Shuichi stuttered as he backed out of the room. As soon as the door was closed, Shuichi bolted back to the room he shared with Yuki, face bright red and the concern of spiders completely forgotten.

"What the hell happened to you?" Came a slightly amused voice in front of him. Shuichi's eyes shot up instantly, reflexes still hyperactive from the adrenaline.

"I…I accidently saw… Er. Well. I mean. I was looking for Eric. So I went to go find him. But he was with Sebastian. And I really should knock, I mean—"

Yuki held up a hand, halting Shuichi's confused ramblings.

"Never mind, Shuichi. I don't think I want to know where this is going."

"But Yuki!" Shuichi pleaded, feeling the need to tell someone what had just happened. "I saw Eric and—"

"Really. Just stop. There are some things that I shouldn't or generally just don't want to know."

"But—"

"No! I'm telling you not to bring the subject up again. To _anyone_. Got it?"

Shuichi's gaze turned suspicious as he stared at the blonde. "Yuki do you already—"

"Shuichi! For the last time drop it!"

"Alright, alright. I get it." Shuichi muttered as he made his way over to a corner to sulk and ponder. "So quite interrupting me."

Yuki sighed, rolling up the map he had momentarily come back down to retrieve and heading for the door, fully content with the thought of leaving Shuichi there to think things over on his own. …Or so he thought. Halfway to the door his body stopped of its own volition and back around and walking over to kneel next to Shuichi.

"Whatever happened, and no I'm not asking you to tell me the specifics, I highly doubt there's any reason for you to be this distraught." Yuki said, giving Shuichi a feather light kiss on his forehead before getting up and retracing his steps towards the door once more. He opened the door, only to come face to face with Eric.

"He's in there. And whatever happens…well basically, I really don't give a damn." Yuki muttered as he brushed past the brunette he found awkwardly lingering around the entryway. He vaguely was aware of the look of surprise on Eric's face as he passed but had absolutely no interested in involving himself any further with the situation.

Eric, once Yuki was well out of sight, gingerly tip-toed into the room, approaching his friend cautiously.

"Shuichi?"

"Eric!" Shuichi called in surprise, the blush left over from Yuki's kiss only intensifying with the memory of how he had just come across his friend several minutes earlier. "I'm really, really, sorry. I didn't mean to barge in like that! Please don't hate me!"

Eric stared at Shuichi in bewilderment at the comment before breaking into laughter.

"I don't get it." Shuichi stated after deciding Eric had laughed long enough.

"I was concerned that _you_ were going to hate _me_." Eric explained as his laughter subsided.

"…Really?" Eric just nodded. "That's a relief." Shuichi said with a grin. "Though I have to ask…Sebastian? Really? He's so…scary. And I don't think he likes me very much."

Eric shrugged, a slight smile on his face. "He seems to think that You'll be the cause of Yuki leaving this ship."

"Oh." Shuichi said, unsure how to feel about that particular piece of information.

"Don't worry, I told him to get over it, that whatever was going to happen would happen."

"And did that help?"

"No. But it at least got him to drop the subject."

"Well in any case, I highly doubt that would happen."

"Maybe, maybe not. Anyway. What was it you were so frantically searching for me about?"

Shuichi thought for a moment. "Oh! My hair!"

Eric glanced up at Shuichi's hair. "Yeah, it could do with a wash. But I think that would go for everyone on this ship."

"That's not what I was going to ask." Shuichi retorted with an accompanying glare. "Are there any spiders in it?"

"Spiders?" Eric asked, combing his fingers through the pink locks. "No. None. What made you think there were?"

"None." Shuichi repeated incredulously. Eric nodded. "Not even a spider thread?"

"Nope. You're completely spider free. Gonna tell me why you have this paranoia?"

Shuichi didn't say anything in answer to his friend. Instead he just glared darkly at a spot on the wall across from him, arms crossed in a very real but far from intimidating pout.

"That jerk." Shuichi finally muttered.

"Jerk?" Eric repeated in confusion. "Ohhh…I see. Yuki told you there were spiders in your hair?"

Shuichi nodded in affirmation. "This morning. I woke up and he was doing something to my hair. I asked what and he said he was getting a spider out…or something like that. I don't know."

Eric stared at Shuichi, a smile slowly spreading across his face. Honestly, how the boy had made it as far as he had being this oblivious was beyond him. Oh well. Giving Shuichi a one-armed hug and ruffling his hair, Eric stood up.

"Well, I'll leave it to you two to sort out that little issue."

"But—"

"Don't take it to hard, Shu." Eric said with a wink.

"You and Yuki are acting so strangely today." Shuichi remarked unhappily. A grin and a shrug was the only response he got. "Fine. Can I at least come help you out today?" He needed a good way of killing time until he could be properly angry at Yuki.

"Fine by me. What about your cat, won't it be lonely?"

Shuichi looked over to where the little kitten was playing pounce-on-the-invisible-mice. "I think she'll be fine." Shuichi said, ushering Eric towards the exit.

-xXx-

When Yuki returned he was greeted with the sight of Shuichi sitting on the ground, arms crossed, glaring up at the blonde. Rue was seated next to him, mimicking her master to some degree, as she was simply staring up at Yuki with slightly less angry green eyes.

"I'm not going to play the guessing game." Yuki said with a sigh, "So whatever you're angry about just spit it out now."

"There weren't any spiders in my hair." Shuichi stated shortly, his glare never breaking.

"I would have thought you'd be happy about this." Yuki countered, completely unfazed by Shuichi's distress. "Do you want me to find spiders to put in your hair? Because I certainly won't."

"No! But you made me unnecessarily stressed!"

"Oh calm down. A little stress is good for you."

Shuichi didn't say anything, just sniffed a little and turned his head, fully expecting Yuki to apologize and comfort him. No such luck. Yuki simply proceeded with his usual pre-bed routine, even going so far as to relocate Rue to her own bed.

"Shuichi. If you're quite done complaining, I'm tired." Shuichi debated internally for a moment, there was no reason he couldn't continue his argument in bed and at least then he wouldn't have to worry about Yuki blowing the candle out and leaving him in darkness.

"You could've at least said sorry." Shuichi muttered as he got himself settled.

"I could've. But I wouldn't have meant it so really where's the point?"

"It's polite."

"Please, give me a reason as to why _I_ should have to act polite." Shuichi remained silent, unable to come up with a single argument. "Exactly."

"Jerk." Shuichi muttered, refusing to let Yuki win completely. Yuki rolled his eyes, debating whether or not he should threaten to throw Shuichi out with the garbage for the sharks to eat. He was just about to speak when he remember something else: two days. Shuichi was only going to be around for another 2 days.

"Fine. You're right. I'm sorry." Yuki conceded. "I shouldn't have made you believe that there were spiders in your hair, no matter how funny it was."

Shuichi's face brightened almost instantly, whether the sarcasm in Yuki's voice was simply lost on him or whether he was just ignoring it, Yuki wasn't sure. But either way the brat was happy again which meant Yuki wouldn't be bothered by any loud, sulky sighs.

"Thank you, Yuki!" Shuichi exclaimed, tackling Yuki into an awkward attempt at a hug that mainly resulted in Shuichi just jumping on top of him.

"You're welcome. Now get. Off." Yuki growled, unhappy at his lack of air supply.

"No. Comfy." Came the unperturbed reply as Shuichi attempted to make himself a bed on Yuki's chest. The blonde fought the urge to toss Shuichi off of him and instead simply shifted him to the side so he could breathe easier.

"Yuki?" Shuichi questioned slowly, raising his head to look at his companion in the dim candlelight.

"What now?"

"Are you ok? You never let me this close without some sort of argument."

Yuki averted his gaze, embarrassed and surprised that Shuichi had caught on to his behavior. "Really." He finally said in exasperation. "I'm mean, you complain. I'm nice, you still complain. Is there any case in which you'd just be satisfied like a normal person?"

Shuichi grinned down at him sheepishly, "Sorry." He muttered, shyly touching their lips together. Yuki pulled him down closer, keeping the kiss going for a moment longer than it would have before releasing Shuichi so he could resettle himself against Yuki.

"I'm glad I left home." Shuichi said quietly, one hand tracing the area where his old ring used to rest unconsciously as he thought of his home. Now there was no longer any proof that it had ever been on his finger—the sun had removed any tan-line that had been there previously. Shuichi raised his hand, watching the candlelight flicker over his bare finger while Yuki started to fall asleep next to him.

"Hey Yuki…Don't you think it's about time you gave me that ring back. I mean, do you really think I would tell anyone about you now?"

"I suppose you're right." Yuki mumbled into the blanket. "It's in my desk drawer. Top right. You have to lift up the bottom of the drawer."

Shuichi practically leapt out of bed, suddenly very excited at the prospect of having his beloved ring back on his finger. Yuki rolled his eyes at his pink-haired charge's eagerness, wondering through a thin veil of drowsiness why he suddenly felt so uneasy about telling Shuichi where his ring lay. Suddenly he sat bolt up as he realized just why he felt so unnerved.

"Wait! Shuichi don't—" Yuki cut himself off as he saw too late that Shuichi had already found the small, heart shaped locket that he kept tucked away safely in the hidden compartment of the drawer and was currently dangling it from his hand, glinting a soft, tarnished gold in the dim light.

"Yuki…How did you get this?"

Yuki was quickly across the room, snatching the necklace from Shuichi's hand and folding it into his own.

"It's nothing. I just picked it up somewhere."

"It's not nothing!" Shuichi cried, and Yuki could see a thin line of tears filling his purple eyes as he looked up at him. "That necklace was a gift from me to Mika Uesegi almost 10 years ago."

Yuki sighed. Of course he already knew that; his sister had treasured that necklace more than anything. "Your point?" Yuki asked carefully—it wasn't like he could very well just tell Shuichi 'Yeah, I know, I'm her brother.'

"Five years ago she was murdered." Yuki closed his eyes, waiting for realization to come to Shuichi. But he heard nothing. When he opened his eyes, he saw that the other man had stepped away from him, a wary expression across face.

"What?"

"The man who murdered Mika…his name was Yuki. I can't believe I didn't remember until now." Shuichi remarked dazedly, half speaking to himself and half to Yuki.

Yuki was about to object to the ludicrous conjecture the statement was implying but stopped himself, a dismal realization hitting him: if Shuichi hated him, at least the parting would be easier on one end. As much as it frustrated him that someone actually thought that _he_ was his sister's killer, in this situation he would make an exception. Perhaps one day, after he set everything right, he would come back and explain the truth to Shuichi. But somehow he knew that if he told Shuichi now, it would be even more difficult to make him leave.

"What exactly are you trying to say, Shuichi?" Yuki prompted, not able to form the condemning sentence himself, false as it was. But Shuichi was just shaking his head back and forth.

"No." Shuichi murmured, using the wall to slide down to the floor. "You can't be him. You just can't."

Yuki didn't see any tears flowing down Shuichi's face, but he could hear them chocking his words, making his own words a million times more difficult to say.

"And what if I am?"

"What?" Shuichi breathed, looking up with reddening eyes.

"What if I killed your precious friend? Would you turn me in?"

Shuichi stared at Yuki, his expression one of disbelief, Yuki's words being paramount to a confession in his eyes. A slow trail of tears finally began to slip from his eyes and he finally shook his head once. "I won't say anything." He whispered, pressing his palms into his eyes in an attempt to stem the tears and accompanying sobs.

Yuki stared in open shock, taking advantage of the fact that Shuichi wasn't looking at him to let his true emotion show on his face briefly. "I thought this girl was your best friend." Yuki said coolly once he was sure his voice wouldn't betray his surprise. "You're really just going to let her killer get away this easily?"

Shuichi gave a single, slow nod, refusing to make eye contact with Yuki.

"Why?" He asked softly, needing to know what the hell could be more important than justice for his sister.

"Because." Shuichi sobbed, the tears coming in a fresh wave. "I love you."

Yuki felt his heart stop at those words. This he had not been expecting. Yuki pulled his hand back just as it was about rest comfortingly around Shuichi's shoulders. No. No reason to comfort him, just another reason for him to ensure the break between them stayed.

"Well, then. I'm afraid this is a slightly awkward way of ending things." Yuki said softly, "We'll be arriving at your home port in a couple days."

Shuichi's teary eyes widened as he finally looked up at Yuki. "Wh-what?"

"It's been a few weeks, I thought it was about time for you to get home."

Shuichi remained quiet for a while, drinking in this new information. "So…you mean—"

"I mean it's time for our lives to separate, I'll stay somewhere else for the time being. Ask Eric if you need anything, I'll give him instructions on getting you home when it's time for you to go. Make sure you take Rue with you." Yuki said shortly and then he was gone; leaving Shuichi's life as if it were the easiest thing in the world.

-xXx-

**looks around slightly nervously**

soooo…reactions? If there's something about this chapter that you're unhappy about then please, tell me, I won't be offended haha. Or you can just review because it makes my days shiny! ^_^


	12. Chapter 12

Hey everyone! Thank you for all the reviews, this story has now broken 100 o.O I'm still kind of shocked…

Disclaimer: own plot and nothing more.

This chapter is dedicated to LoveMeNine love you and thank you!

-xXx-

It had been a week since Shuichi had come home. Eric had brought him up to his house, just like Yuki had promised though he had left before Shuichi was actually reunited with any of his family. Shuichi rolled over onto him stomach, burying his face into his pillow.

Yuki.

Shuichi still couldn't believe how terribly things had ended between them. Not like he had any idea as to how he could have fixed it; after Yuki had left Shuichi was constantly fluctuating between different levels of anger, hatred, and depression.

Eric had remained incredibly patient throughout the whole ordeal, calming Shuichi down, cheering him up—or trying in any case. How much Yuki had told him about the situation, Shuichi still wasn't sure but he never brought it up and neither did Shuichi. There were times when Shuichi would adamantly demand to see Yuki but Yuki must have told Eric not to let him because it was never "possible". At one point, Shuichi even considered going back on his word and turning Yuki in…but in the end he knew he couldn't. Besides, turning Yuki in would more or less mean killing Eric as well.

A light touch fell on the back of Shuichi's head, pulling him back from the thoughts that were constantly plaguing his mind. Shuichi turned his head to the side, not really wanting to interact with anyone but knowing it was rude for him to ignore whoever was trying to talk to him now.

"Shuichi?" Maiko's soft, hesitant voice floated down to his ears and Shuichi resisted the urge to turn his head back into his pillow. Of all the people, his sister was most concerned about him, constantly checking in and trying to get him to open up. It was really starting to annoy him.

"Hmm?" Shuichi mumbled sleepily, pretending that he had just woken up. He lazily reached out to play with Rue's fur as she lay sprawled in a warm patch of sunlight beside him. At some point the little kitten he had rescued had grown into a bigger—though not less playful—version of herself.

"I just wanted to check on you, make sure you were ok."

"Really, Maiko, you don't have to check on me every single day like this. I'm fine, just tired." Maiko gave a sigh and sat down on the chair she had permanently relocated so she could sit next to Shuichi when he was in bed.

"Shuichi. You've been moping around like this for a week." Shuichi stayed quiet, not really knowing how to reply to that statement. Although reuniting with his family had been incredibly joyful—especially since his mother had promised to never dress him up as a girl again—Shuichi had quickly fallen into a depression of sorts. Both his mother and father just thought it was due to his readjustment and that he would bounce back soon enough. Shuichi felt that the only way that was going to happen would be for him to find Yuki again. But he also knew that the pirate was gone and now more than ever had a reason to stay the hell away.

"Very well. Since you won't talk to me, someone else is visiting." Shuichi sat up, the sly look in Maiko's eyes piquing his interest.

"Who?"

Maiko glanced towards the door to Shuichi's room and the pink-haired boy followed her gaze. As if on cue, a head of dark brown hair poked around the door.

"Ryu—"

"SHUICHI!" Shuichi yelped as Ryuichi practically pounced on him, barely managing to pull Rue out of the way before she was squished. As soon as Rue deemed it was safe she darted away from Shuichi and off the bed, wandering over to Maiko who obliging picked her up to cuddle.

"What are you doing here?" Shuichi asked once he had managed to at least push Ryuichi off his chest though his friend was still clinging to him.

"Erm he was coming down to help find you. Either that or attend your funeral." Maiko cut in before Ryuichi could respond for himself.

"I wasn't dead." Shuichi stated with annoyance.

"How were we supposed to know that? Anyway, I'm off, mom and I are going shopping for a new dress."

"What for?" Maiko usually only got new dresses for special occasions. As far as Shuichi knew there was nothing happening anytime soon.

"Uh…well…I have a date! So bye then! Have a nice day!" Maiko said hurriedly before dashing out of the room so Shuichi couldn't ask anymore questions.

"Weird." Shuichi muttered to himself before turning his attention back to the person who was still latched onto his body. "Hey… You can let go now, you know. I'm not going anywhere."

"But Shu~ I was so worried!" Ryuichi whined, refusing to release him.

"Really. I'm perfectly fine." Shuichi said with a half-hearted smile, attempting to pull Ryuichi's arms from his body. His friend pulled away and gave him a curious look. It lasted only for the briefest of seconds but Shuichi was certain it was there and left him feeling slightly unnerved. However, in a blink it was gone and Ryuichi was bouncing up and down on the bed.

"Get up! Get up! Get up! You've been in bed too long! Let's go play!"

Shuichi smiled a little bit more. Ryuichi's childish charm always managed to lift his spirits. Perhaps he could indeed make him feel better. In any case, it was worth a shot.

The day passed easily, Shuichi finding himself at ease in the carefree attitude of Ryuichi. Ryuichi hadn't brought up his absence once, nor had he asked Shuichi if "anything was the matter." It was a welcome change. What made it even better was the fact that both his mom and sister were in town and his dad was entertaining some guest who had shown up early in the morning meaning it wasn't even possible for him to run into his family and see their pitying, worried stares.

Currently the two were out on a balcony attached to Shuichi's room, relaxing on chairs they had dragged out so they could sit under the stars after eating dinner in Shuichi's room.

"Hey Shuichi…" Ryuichi said, breaking the silence for the first time since they had gone outside.

"Yeah?" Came the distracted reply.

"You know your family is starting to worry about you."

Shuichi withheld a sigh; he should have known Ryuichi's silence on the subject was too good to be true. "I know. I'll snap out of it soon enough, I'm sure. I just need a little more time."

"It helps if you talk." Ryuichi said, turning away from the stars so as to fix Shuichi with one of his rare, serious expressions. "You know you can tell me anything."

Shuichi got up from his chair, walking over to lean on the stone railing of the balcony and stare out at the darkened world. "I'm not sure I could explain it."

"Try." Ryuichi encourage, coming to stand next to him.

Shuichi wrestled with himself, not sure if telling Ryuichi was a good idea or not. Ryuichi had never known Mika, the two had met after Shuichi had moved from England down to the colonies with his father's new job as Ryuichi had been in a similar situation. Even so, when Mika had died, Ryuichi had been his saving grace, bringing him back from his grief. But perhaps since Ryuichi never actually knew Mika, maybe he would bear less hatred towards her murderer and maybe he could understand Shuichi just a little…

"I met the man who killed Mika." Shuichi stated bluntly, forcing the words out before he or the tears that were suddenly starting to build could stop him. Out of his periphery, he saw Ryuichi's head snap up to look at him. A few seconds later Shuichi found himself pulled against Ryuichi's chest as tears began to slip from his eyes.

"Shuichi…I'm so sorry." The older man breathed, holding Shuichi tightly to himself. "But…if you tell me where he is, we can catch him, we can bring him to justice." Ryuichi said, attempting to cheer up and reassure his friend. He was shocked when he felt Shuichi shaking his head against him.

"I can't." Shuichi whispered over choked back tears.

"What do you mean?" Ryuichi asked, pulling back to try and look at Shuichi's face.

"I…I love with him." Shuichi refused to make eye-contact with Ryuichi as he spoke, not wanting to see what sort of reaction his expression would show.

"…What?" Ryuichi grip on Shuichi's arms slackened considerably, something Shuichi didn't take to be a good sign. He pulled away from the shell-shocked Ryuichi, sinking to the floor of the balcony as he sobbed into his own arms.

"Shu…" Ryuichi's voice came from next to Shuichi's ear and momentarily Shuichi felt arms encircling him once more. Ryuichi just let his friend cry in his arms, realizing that what he really needed at the moment was someone to lean on, to talk to, someone who wouldn't judge him. It was no wonder Shuichi hadn't spoken a word about this to his family; it was a hard thing for even Ryuichi—who had no connection to Mika Uesegi—to accept.

As the sobs started to decrease down to the occasional hiccup, Ryuichi readjusted their position so that Shuichi could still lean comfortably against him and Ryuichi could use the balcony railing as support.

"Tell me?"

"The three weeks I was gone, I was on a ship. It was so wonderful, Ryu! I really loved it—I loved him. He could be jerk, certainly, but he had this really sweet side. He kept me safe. I didn't know it was him…not until right before I came back." Shuichi stopped for a moment, the tears starting to build up again. "Ryu…I just don't know what to do from here. I feel like I've betrayed Mika but I can't bring myself to do anything about it."

"You can't help who you fall in love with." Ryuichi whispered softly, threading his fingers through Shuichi's hair soothingly, wishing he could do something, anything to stop the pain; he had never seen Shuichi this broken before and it was killing him that he was so helpless. "But that said, Shuichi, I don't want you to think about him anymore. I mean look at you, just one thought of him is tearing you apart. It's not healthy."

Shuichi gave a soft sigh. "You said it yourself; this isn't exactly something I can control."

Ryuichi didn't say anything for a long time until he finally turned Shuichi face towards his, wiping away any tears and tears tracks that remained on his cheeks.

"Well, at the very least you know you can count on me for anything." He said, pressing a soft kiss to Shuichi's forehead. Shuichi slowly nodded, staring at Ryuichi questioningly; his friend had never done anything like that before. Shuichi, however, didn't have too much time to dwell on the subject or inquire as to what it meant as Ryuichi suddenly stood, pulling Shuichi to his feet as he did so.

"In any case, time for bed." He said, cheerful once more, and quickly set up tucking Shuichi in, artfully ignoring all complaints that Shuichi wasn't tired, before bouncing out the door and presumably off to his own room.

Shuichi watched his friend disappear curiously but quickly shrugged it off; no matter how close the two were, there were times when even he didn't understand Ryuichi. Leaning over to blow out the candle next to his bed, Shuichi froze, staring at the object that lay on his bedside table. Hardly daring to believe what he was seeing, Shuichi picked it up with a shaking hand, tracing the golden heart with a finger as it lay in the palm of his hand. If this was here, then that must mean that Yuki… Shuichi's head snapped up, glancing wildly around the darkened room for any sign of the blonde pirate.

But there was nothing. Just silence.

With a sigh, Shuichi looked back down at the locket. He remembered picking it out, the intricate twisting pattern around the edge of the heart had caught his eye initially and he had just known Mika would love it. His fingers traced the design, pausing as they came to the clasp and Shuichi found himself suddenly curious to know what—if anything—was still inside. Shuichi popped the clasp open and a small piece of folded paper fell into his palm along with the remains of an old, dried purple flower he had given Mika years ago. He smiled at the memory of the flower and slipped it back into the locket before closing it. The piece of paper, he could tell was new and he could see the faint trace of black ink showing through. Intrigued, he unfolded it to see a brief note written in neat, flowing handwriting.

_I think this belongs to you. –Yuki_

The note fell from his fingers and Shuichi gripped the locket tightly in frustration, a sad mixture between a laugh and a sob escaping from his throat. It wasn't fair, he thought as he curled up around the necklace and his pillow, none of it was fair.

"I miss you, Yuki."

-xXx-

So…I have a feeling that some of you will be upset that Yuki wasn't in this chapter. And as sorry as I am, it would have been far too easy for them to just kiss and make up so I did this instead. But he will come back, this is Shuichi/Yuki after all I just had to push Shuichi a little further into hell before I save him, it makes the rescue that much more beautiful—at least that's what the hope is haha.

Lilgurlanima: so... if I were you I wouldn't get my hopes up for a quick reunion…hehe

Fedski: Aww thank you! And you are absolutely correct about…Yuki ^.~

Angel Wings-008: aww sorry, although my goal was to make people sad... :D But unfortunately I don't think this chapter will be what you want it to be…

LoveMeNine: I already kind of responded so instead this update is my gift to you…even if it isn't very satisfying as a chapter haha

Yaoifangirl89: hehe well…you'll see it should make more sense in chapter 13

KyouyaxCloud: unfortunately, as a matter of fact, he shall, stupid Yuki.

RavenshadowPhantomhive: hehe indeed it is. But thank you! ^.^

Ray: hahaha well at least you didn't have to wait long :)

ES: haha yep, you came back just as it reached the turning point ^.~

Cc: hahahah please don't lose your mind, I updated quickly, see! :D

JasLine: Mika is older than both Shuichi and Yuki, their relationship was more that of an older sister and younger brother :)

AnimeWolf524: haha maybe he did, maybe he didn't, I won't say until the next chapter ^.~


	13. Chapter 13

I tried to make myself avoid this site until after finals. Fail. Not only this story but I even took time to write a oneshot. -_- my poor grades **sob**

Disclaimer: Don't own

-xXx-

Shuichi was jolted awake by the rather unpleasant feeling of falling. And then he hit the ground.

"Ow!" Shuichi groaned, wondering what the hell he had been doing that he managed to fall out of a queen size bed. A grinning face appeared in his line of vision and he immediately had his answer.

"Ryu…?" Shuichi asked, staring blearily up at the happy brunette looming over him. "Too early." He rolled around, twisting the blankets that had fallen with him around his body to form a more comfortable cocoon.

"Wakey-Wakey Shuichi!" Ryuichi sang, shaking his friend's shoulders. Shuichi groaned in reluctance but sat up anyway.

"I'm up, I'm up. Now get out so I can get changed." Shuichi rubbed his eyes tiredly as Ryuichi bonded out of the room. He felt as if he had had the strangest dream, but what… Shuichi immediately jumped up as he remembered, frantically searching the sheets for the gold locket he had fallen asleep holding. It couldn't have just been a dream, Shuichi refused to believe that was possible. Finally he caught a glint of gold nestled in the comforter that was wrapped around his waist on the floor. With a sigh of relief he picked it up and fastened it around his own neck. The locket lay thin and flat part way down his breastbone, making it easy to tuck into his shirt and completely unnoticeable beneath the fabric.

Once dressed, Shuichi darted out of his room, starving for breakfast. But as soon as Shuichi stepped out of the door, all thoughts of food were put on hold.

"What's going on?" He asked, not breaking his gaze away from the almost chaotic state of the manor.

Ryuichi just shrugged. "Your mom organized a party for tonight."

"A party? What for?"

A fist knocked him lightly on the head. "Silly. You've come back! Well you and one Eiri Uesegi."

Shuichi froze. "Who?"

"Eiri Uesegi. Shu, do you know him?"

"He's Mika's brother." Shuichi said with a smile, though in reality he was feeling slightly faint. Somehow, the fates were contriving against him, throwing all of this in his face at once—first he meets and falls in love with Mika's murderer and then he's expected to socialize with her long-lost brother as if nothing ever happened. Brilliant.

Oh god. Shuichi froze as another thought his him. Maybe this was a sign. A sign that he was supposed to do the "right" thing and tell his father about Yuki. Eiri had disappeared a few months following Mika's death, for him to reappear now…It had to be a sign. But he couldn't turn Yuki in just because of that, could he?

"Ah! There you are big brother!" Shuichi broke away from his mind, whirling around to see Maiko coming directly at him, a familiar grin on her lips. "Mom's been looking for you."

Shuichi made no move, unsure of whether or not he should trust his sister.

"Oh calm down, there's no dress involved." Maiko reassured once she saw her brother's expression. Without waiting to hear if Shuichi had any other concerns, she grabbed his arm and pulled her brother down the hallway, barely letting him manage a wave to Ryuichi as he was dragged out of sight.

"You seem excited." Shuichi muttered almost accusatorily at his sister.

"Of course I am, it's been a while since we've celebrated like this. And now we have twice the reason! To think Eiri Uesegi would turn up at our door after five years of being missing! Not to mention he's _soo_ handsome." Shuichi just rolled his eyes as his sister giggled and blabbered on and on about how gorgeous he was.

"You should meet him, Shu." Maiko said suddenly, poking her brother in the arm to regain his full attention.

"Huh?"

"I said you should meet him."

"I really don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not?" Maiko asked with a frown. "It's not like _you_ were the one who killed Mika."

"Yeah…you're right." Shuichi agreed, not wanting to let his sister catch on to any weird behavior. "Maybe I'll let you introduce me to him at the party tonight." He continued, though he mentally maked a note to stay the hell away from Maiko if she agreed.

"I could…but it might be difficult, I won't know what he looks like…"

Shuichi sent a confused glance towards his sister—usually _he_ was the one not making any sense. "Maiko you just spent this entire walk talking about how beautiful this guy is. How can you suddenly not know what he looks like?"

Maiko just laughed a little nervously, making Shuichi very suspicious. Unfortunately he didn't have a chance to ask any more questions as the two now found themselves just outside of his mother's favorite room.

"Well! Here we are!" Maiko exclaimed, opening the door and giving Shuichi a small push in.

Shuichi sent a glare back at the door that had been closed after him before turning towards his mother.

"What did you want to see me for?" Shuichi asked as he stepped further into what he perceived to be a vastly over decorated room.

"Aw Shu, dear, is that really any way to greet your mother." His mom asked with a smile, walking briskly over to kiss him on both cheeks.

"When you have cause to be as suspicious as I do, yes."

"Well, you can relax, sweetie. I just wanted to give you the clothes Maiko and I chose for you." His mother said, pulling a pile of neatly folded clothes from a box. Shuichi eyed the pile, he could see a few ruffles on a white shirt but everything else seemed to have a darker blueish-black color scheme with the smallest trace of gold. Not bad.

"We thought it would be nice to have something new to wear for your welcome back party." She said, watching her son carefully.

Shuichi's stomach dropped as he was reminded once more of the impending night of frivolity and laughter. Somehow that did not seem to be what he needed. He accepted the clothes but couldn't quite bring himself to say 'thank you'.

"Mom…do we really have to hold this party? Perhaps we could put it off for a week or so." Shuichi implored, gazing at his mother pleadingly.

His mother took on a sympathetic expression, placing once pristinely gloved hand on her son's cheek. "Sweetheart, I know you're not having the easiest time readjusting…but I think that this might help. Maybe you just need to get out, see old friends, make new ones."

"Mom, please, I really don't think I'm up for this."

His mother heaved a sad sigh. "That's what your father thought too. So, we came to an agreement." She walked back to the box she had taken the clothes from and picked up a smaller one.

"What is it?" Shuichi asked as the box was set on top of the pile of clothes.

"Well, the compromise for tonight was that the party would be a masquerade, this way no one will know it's you if you don't want them to."

Had Shuichi not had his arms full of clothes he would have hugged his mother.

"Thank you."

"Of course sweetie. Now go get ready, the party starts in five hours."

"I'm not a girl, mother. I don't take that long to get ready." Shuichi retorted as he made his exit. He deposited the gifts in his room and set about getting some lunch as it seemed he had slept through breakfast. Once his stomach was satisfied with the amount of food he had given it, Shuichi had a bath drawn, wanting to soak away all of his resentments and negative feelings before the party started.

As he expected the instant the tub started to be filled with water his sweet little cat came running around the corner, jumping up onto a nearby stool so she could watch the process. Rue, it seemed, missed the ship and the water almost as much as him and would come in hopes of playing near the water as soon as she heard it. His mother seemed to find the idea of this adorable and had purchased Rue her own miniature bath tub that was placed on a chair next to Shuichi's. However, the smaller tub size didn't quite seem to satisfy Rue and she constantly was trying to jump in with Shuichi. Once she even made—only to start yowling and hissing in complaint over being unable to swim very well. Since then she had been content to simply sit next to Shuichi on her stool as he occasionally flicked up some water for her to bat at or pounce on.

This time, more than ever Shuichi was glad for her company, it kept his mind away from the things he didn't want to think about-namely Yuki, Eiri, and this party.

Finally, Shuichi decided—or rather the way his fingers were starting to wrinkle indicated—that it was time to get out and get ready for his night of forced family-and-friends fun. Slipping on a robe, Shuichi shuffled back into his bedroom, staring reluctantly at the small black box and the clothes that lay beneath it. Might as well get started.

Shuichi set aside the box containing the mask, wanting to wait until he had finished getting ready to open the present. He debated whether or not the keep the necklace on—it wasn't exactly a very masculine accessory—but in the end decided to keep it tucked under his shirt. All that was left was his mask. He gently loosened the lid and nearly laughed when he saw what lay before him. Picking up the disguise, Shuichi ran his finger along the golden edging. He wouldn't deny it was pretty. The cutouts for the eyes had been bordered with a thin strip of black paint. From there the mask became a deep, burnt gold color with a darker, almost rusty shade of gold lightly dusting the upper part of the eye area. Swirls of bright gold decorated the rest of the inlay.

But of all colors, why gold? The one color that held such a strong connection to Yuki. How unfair.

Shuichi was ripped from his musings as a pair of arms suddenly captured him and spun him around in a circle.

"Ryu, put me down!" Shuichi called with a laugh

"Come on, Shuichi! Put your mask on, let's go!" Ryuichi exclaimed, not giving Shuichi anytime to answer before he snatched the mask Shuichi had been staring so morosely at and tied the black satin ribbon in a perfect bow at the back of his head.

The party was already in full swing when they arrived, people dressed in brightly colored fabrics swung to and fro, laughing and chatting and probably consuming a bit too much alcohol. Ryuichi wasted no time, jumping in with the dancing and it was only when Maiko dragged him in that he joined as well.

"Shu~I think your mom wants to talk to you." Ryuichi called as they passed by in a dance. Shuichi glanced the way Ryuichi had nodded his head and sure enough his mother was standing next to a tall blonde with a dark colored mask. As soon as she noticed Shuichi looking, he was waved over.

"Excuse me." Shuichi muttered to his partner before stepping out of the crowd of twirling people and making his way to his mother.

"Ah Shu, dear, this is Eiri Uesegi. Remember? Mika's older brother."

"I remember." Shuichi said pleasantly, turning towards the taller man. His eyes flickered up only briefly to the dark gray mask as he greeted him, guilt not allowing him to maintain solid eye-contact.

"Shuichi, we were just discussing how dances have changed since Eiri last learned them. You know Eiri's been away from society for a while now and I thought it would be nice for you to teach him a few of the dances."

Shuichi stared at his mother, dumbstruck while she just smiled widely back at him.

"Mom, I'm not a teacher. I'm not even that good at dancing!"

"Nonsense sweetie, you're perfect."

Shuichi sulked silently a little more, not wanting to give up that easily. "Isn't Maiko better suited for something like this?"

"Darling, Maiko doesn't know the male part." Shuichi withheld a reluctant sigh and turned toward the blonde.

"Let's step outside, it's less crowded and noisy there." Shuichi said, doing his very best to sound friendly and cheerful. Eiri made no response but followed Shuichi as he led them out onto an empty pavilion. The music echoed out into the night air just loudly enough for the two to still hear it and have something to dance by.

"Ok." Shuichi began, standing in front of the other man who was fortunately quite a bit taller than him so it was easy to pass off his lack of eye contact as being due to discomfort.

"So you're hands go around here…" Shiuchi said slowly, guiding Eiri's hands to their respective places—one on his upper back, the other clasping Shuichi's own. Shuichi felt his face heat up as Eiri pulled him unnecessarily close and was impossibly glad for both his mask and the night sky.

"We don't have to be that close." He muttered, stepping back slightly.

"Too bad." Shuichi scowled slightly but didn't respond to the comment, wanting nothing more than to teach this guy and be done with it.

"Now let's see…" Shuichi said softly to himself, trying to imagine the way the girls had moved while he had been dancing with them. "You take two steps back—Yeah, like that." Shuichi continued to guide Eiri in the steps though at times it almost seemed as if Eiri knew. Eventually Shuichi quite providing instruction, wanting to see how much his companion had picked up. There were absolutely no mistakes.

Shuichi stopped and pulled away confused as to how Eiri had managed to learn so quickly.

"You're dancing perfectly."

"Afraid I can't say the same for you."

Shuichi resisted the urge to shove the man off the balcony. "You'll have to excuse me, I don't usually dance the girl's part." He stated tersely, though he had to admit, there was something oddly familiar about the man before him and this banter. But that was impossible, even when they were younger Shuichi only ever spent time with Mika. Eiri was always with his tutor...

"So I take it your mother only ever made you dress as a girl and not act like one?" Shuichi's eyes shot up, locking instantly with a pair of golden irises, slightly darkened by the shadowy mask. If the comment and the mocking tone of voice weren't enough, the eyes certainly were.

"Yuki?" Shuichi whispered in disbelief.

-xXx-

Aand I shall see you next time. After finals. Assuming they don't kill me. :D But until then—Will Shuichi be happy or angry that Yuki's shown up again? And why the hell did he show up again?

Anglecat248: I try and thanks!

sakuraXdrops: Yeah…it was kinda sad. But it was a necessary sad, promise.

No name: Not bad. I didn't even think about adding in Ryuichi until it was suggested to me haha

Love Me Nine: Dedicating the last chapter to you was the least I could do! Your reviews are amazing! I thought Shuichi would need a friend, I was going to make it Hiro but Ryuichi is just so adorable! And side note, while I'm glad Kurt switched schools again, it was still kind of sad…

Brianna: Awww thank you! It means a lot to hear something like that

Fedski: haha I'm so glad you picked up on it, I was hoping people would. And thank you!

RavenshadowPhantomhive: hahaha Ryu= 3

Animaluvr4life: Right I thought he deserved at least that much

Lilgurlanima: mmmmm I think I'll just leave Ryuichi's feelings toward Shuichi open to interpretation for now, I haven't decided if I want to play off of that or not…plus I like Ryuichi too much too hurt him haha

KyouyaxCloud: Maybe…maybe not :P


	14. Chapter 14

Hi. I'm sorry. It's been over a month, hasn't it. Oops! I kinda hit a wall here, but I finally finished. However….I don't think this confrontation between Yuki and Shuichi will go quite as most of you hoped…Just a warning.

Disclaimer: Don't own, so don't sue

-xXx-

_"Yuki?" Shuichi whispered in disbelief. _

"Actually it's Eiri now, if you don't mind." Yuki responded coolly without much real reaction.

Shuichi just stared at the masked blonde in front of him, hundreds of questions and emotions flittering through his mind at lightning speed.

"You! You jerk!" He yelled, completely disregarding Yuki's statement on his name as he finally decided on an emotion—anger, "What the hell do you think you're doing here? You think just because I said I love you I won't turn you in now that you're here?"

"What the hell?" Yuki muttered more to himself than Shuichi, clearly not expecting this kind of reaction.

"I'll call the police, Yuki!"

Eiri slapped a hand across Shuichi's mouth and pushed him back into the darkest part of the already shadowed balcony.

"Will you shut up, brat? I promise you, I _am_ Eiri, if you're so concerned about it then just wait a week or so and you can ask my family whether or not I'm an imposter." Eiri hissed, more than a little irritated at Shuichi's disbelief.

"Then…you weren't the one who killed Mika?" Shuichi asked softly as he pushed 'Yuki's' hand away, anger subsiding quite a bit at this revelation.

"Of course not. You cooked that idiotic hypothesis up all on your own."

"Then why did you let me think that? Why did you let me hate you?"

"Because, stupid, I didn't want you clinging to me when I kicked you off the ship. Simple as that."

"Meanie." Shuichi stated with a pout. "But… why did you come back?" He was unable to keep the small tinge of hope from his voice. Maybe Yuki—no, Eiri—had realized he, too, loved Shuichi. Shuichi grinned to himself, anger suddenly gone as his premature happiness took over.

"Ugh what is this? The fucking Spanish Inquisition? You're giving me a headache, brat, so I'm just going to tell you this and be done. Why I'm here is absolutely no concern of yours. And before you go about concocting more of your silly theories—which I'm certain you would—know this: I'm not here for you. In fact it would be lovely if I didn't see you at all during the rest of my stay here."

"You don't mean that." Shuichi breathed, though it was unclear whether he was speaking to Eiri or just as a means of reassuring himself.

"I assure you, I do."

"Yuki—Eiri, wait!" Shuichi called out as the blonde started to walk back towards the warmly lit room. He managed to grab onto the sleeve of Eiri's jacket just before he pulled open the French door.

"Maybe I didn't make my point clear. _Stay away_." Eiri said coldly, pulling his arm away from Shuichi and walking off without a single backwards glance.

Shuichi stared, heartbroken as Eiri disappeared back into the crowded ballroom; perhaps it would have been better if the blonde had just stayed gone.

Now more than ever Shuichi felt resentment towards his family for deciding to host this "wonderful" celebration party. Selfish as it was, Shuichi didn't like that so many people were so obviously carefree and content while he was downright miserable. Shuichi turned away from the glimmering lights and cheerful laughter that came from inside and walked down a set of stony steps that led from the balcony into the gardens.

He made his way to his favorite bench, it sat at the edge of his mother's rose garden and the view stretched out down to the town and on to the sea and out into the horizon. Not that he could really see much at night save for the faint, flickering lights from town and the occasional shine of moonlight on water as it passed through a cloud.

With a quiet sigh, Shuichi undid the knot at the back of his head that held the mask on, letting it drop with a sharp crunch onto the gravel below. He certainly wouldn't be going back to the party in this state. Shuichi knew that he probably should just go to bed— the whole "feel better in the morning" thing and whatnot, but regardless, there Shuichi stayed, knees drawn up to his chest as he alternated between sulking, crying, and trying to find a way for Eiri's words to mean something other than what they were. Unfortunately Shuichi couldn't quite think of any scenarios in which Eiri saying, "Stay away." Would translate to "I love you!" or even just "I missed you."

Shuichi let his head drop into his hands as a particularly strong wave of confusion hit him. He felt something bounce lightly against his chest at the motion and he pulled the locket from under his shirt. After a thought, Shuichi unclasped the necklace and held it up to dangle in front of him. To be perfectly honest, Eiri probably had more right to keep this memento of his sister than Shuichi did, she _was_ his sister after all. And even if Eiri did want to give it to Shuichi—which really didn't make sense now that they apparently no longer acquaintances—why did he have to do it so secretly?

Feeling more than slightly annoyed and frustrated by the recent turn of events, Shuichi threw the necklace down to join the mask on the pebbly walk-way, wanting to take his anger out on something even if it was just a necklace.

Eventually the thinking and hypothesizing wore Shuichi out and he curled up on his little bench, dozing into a shallow sleep. The soft sounds of the music being played from within his home echoed gently in and out of his ears until it finally faded and for a few moments his world and mind dissolved into black, finally leaving him in peace—at least until he felt someone softly shaking his shoulder.

"What is it?" Shuichi asked blearily, looking around to find out who had woken him up. He was greeted with a pair of hazel eyes, mousy brown hair and a slightly worried expression.

"You're still alive, that's a relief." The man said moving back to give Shuichi some space as he sat up.

"If you had been dead, that would have proved quite troublesome for me." Despite the words, the smile was kind and the words were lighthearted so Shuichi smiled back.

"Glad everything worked out then. How long have I been sleeping?"

The stranger shrugged. "Can't say for sure, but everyone's gone home now—mostly everyone at least, there might be a few drunken stragglers. Perhaps you'd like me to arrange for your own transportation home?"

Shuichi shook his head, getting up from the bench and stretching out stiff, cold muscles. "Not necessary. I live here."

"Oh? Then you must be Shuichi."

Shuichi nodded and the pair slowly started to make their way back to the house and the warmth that surely lay within. "And you are?"

"Just a servant. I work for you—well your family at the very least."

Shuichi looked the man over again.

"I've never seen you before."

"I was hired recently—right after you returned in fact." The man said with a smile, holding open the door so Shuichi could walk in first. The ballroom had indeed emptied dramatically so it was easy for Shuichi to spot Ryuichi, franticly searching beneath chairs, tables, and vases—presumably for Shuichi, himself.

"Excuse me." Shuichi muttered to the brunette before realizing his companion had vanished. He looked briefly around the room but could see no sign of the man. Shrugging it off Shuichi ran over to where he had last seen Ryuichi crawl under one of the dining tables.

"Ryu?" Shuichi questioned as he poked his head under the table. "Are you—WAH!"

"SHUICHI!" His friend cried, tackling him onto the floor in a very undignified and socially unacceptable manner earning several disapproving looks from the remaining bystanders in the room. "I thought you had left me again!"

Shuichi shook his head. "No, of course not…" Shuichi stopped, biting his lower lip as he debated whether or not to tell his best friend about what had just happened. Ryuichi had always been the one person he told everything to, his most trusted friend, so it seemed logical that he would tell him everything now as well. But if, on the off chance that Ryuichi did blab to someone all that Shuichi had told him, then Shuichi himself would also be responsible for any harm that befell Eiri. Definitely not ok.

Regardless of Shuichi's decision, Ryuichi had instantly noticed the conflict in his friend's face and dragged Shuichi out of the room and into Ryuichi's guest room for more privacy—not that the drunkards in the ballroom would really care to listen in on their conversation.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Ryuichi asked, feeling a little shocked as he couldn't quite understand what could have set Shuichi off again after Ryuichi had more or less succeeded in bringing his pink-haired friend back to his usual cheerful state over the past few days.

Shuichi opened his mouth, about to simply disregard the decision he had made mere moments before and spill everything to his best friend but he stopped himself before any words could escape. Before he did anything else, Shuichi wanted to talk to Eiri one last time and besides, he didn't want Ryuichi to think he was still dwelling on his 'Yuki'.

That said, he now needed something else to distract Ryuichi who was sitting next to him on the bed, staring at him expectantly. Shuichi sighed inwardly, suddenly wishing he still had his mask on so that his face wouldn't be so easy to read.

Shuichi froze up, he had left his mask lying in the garden along with…

"My mask!" Shuichi cried, sitting up and very soon he was running out of the room again, with Ryuichi close behind. To be honest he didn't really care about the mask, he was just praying the his necklace was still there.

"It's not here!" Shuichi cried franticly as he searched all around the bench.

"Why would your mask be out here?" Ryuichi asked, head tilted curiously to the left as he watched his best friend dart around like a mad man.

"I took it off when I was out here earlier. I fell asleep and guess I forgot to grab it when that guy woke me up a minute ago." Shuichi said, slumping down onto the bench and dropping his head into his hands.

"Don't be sad, Shu! Maybe someone picked it up for you." Ryuichi encouraged, optimistic as always, but when Shuichi made no sign of responding or agreeing in the slightest, Ryuichi sat down next to him, putting one arm around his shoulders in a comforting hug.

"Let's go back to my room, it's getting kind of cold out here."

"Ok." Shuichi agreed, letting Ryuichi pull him to his feet and guide him back to Ryuichi's room.

"Stay here." Ryuichi commanded with an almost childish tone of authority in his voice as soon as they were back inside. "I'll be right back."

Before Shuichi had a chance to ask where his friend was off to, the brunette had disappeared through the door. He returned once, briefly, to dump a slightly irritated Rue onto Shuichi's lap before quickly vanishing again.

The next time he returned was several minutes later by which time Shuichi had made himself comfortable on the bed, using a tassel on the edge of a pillow to play with Rue. He came through the door slowly this time, balancing a silver tray laden with two cups of some sort of sweet smelling drink and a plate with a bite-size sampling of Shuichi's favorite desserts.

"What's all this for?" Shuichi asked with a small smile, setting the pillow aside and finally allowing Rue to tackle it.

"I don't like it when Shuichi's sad." Ryuichi explained simply with a small shrug. "And I'm sure your mask will turn up soon enough." He continued, handing Shuichi one of the cups and climbing up onto the bed, leaving the tray lying between the two of them.

"I hope so." Shuichi mumbled, though his tone of voice suggested he didn't have much faith in the sentiment.

"Well maybe the guy who woke you up knows what happened to it."

"Don't you think he would have said something earlier?"

"Maybe he forgot or just didn't get the chance."

Shuichi looked over at Ryuichi skeptically. "I was walking with him for a while, you would think he would have found some time to say 'Hey! By the way I have your mask!' …Or something like that."

"Probably true…But in any case, it never hurts to ask."

"Yeah, you're right." Shuichi conceded. Despite the improbability of the situation, he didn't want to keep shooting down his friend's attempts at making him feel better. "Thanks Ryu."

"So what's his name?" Ryuichi asked after they had been munching on the sweets in silence for a while.

"Whose name?" Shuichi asked, now thoroughly distracted by the desserts.

"The guy who might have your mask." Shuichi paused in thought as he went to bite into another miniature cake.

"Ah. I forgot to ask."

"Ch. Silly Shu!" Ryuichi chided lightly. "Oh well though, I'm sure you you'll see him around sooner or later!" Shuichi nodded in agreement. "Anyway! Wanna sleep here tonight? We could have a slumber party!" Ryuichi exclaimed excitedly.

"Thanks, but I'm kind of tired, I think I'll just head back to my room and sleep. But maybe we can do it tomorrow!" Shuichi added upon seeing Ryuichi's crestfallen expression.

"Ok!" Ryuichi said, brightening up immediately. "Good night then Shuichi." Shuichi returned the sentiment before picking up a rather sleepy Rue and heading out the door.

The route Shuichi took back to his room was much longer than necessary and the pace he moved at was almost sloth-like. Part of him was hoping to miraculously run into Eiri during his wandering and the other part was debating whether or not finding his mother and asking her where the blonde was staying was a good idea. More or less he just wanted some answers. At the very least he felt he deserved to know the reason for Eiri's complete 180 turn in his attitude towards Shuichi.

In the end, his feet ended up leading him back to his room where he was greeted with the sight of a figure leaning casually against his doorway. Shuichi stopped a few feet away, feeling slightly curious and slightly hopeful.

"What are you doing here?"

-xXx-

I'll be honest. I _despise_ this chapter. It's just so boring. It's only purpose is to set up the next section. Which I suppose is important…*mumbles incoherently in annoyance*

Anyway, it should/will get interesting again next chapter because if all goes well, we have a…nevermind. No spoilers. :D

Sorry I'm not doing review replies on this one, it's been so long since the last chapter that you guys have probably all forgotten what you said. Plus it's late and I kinda have work tomorrow. But please know that your reviews mean the world to me! I love you guys to death! I like hearing what you guys think will happen and what you guys want to happen and everything in between! Love you! 3

And since it's late, my editing might be sloppy, so don't feel bad about pointing out mistakes or anything that doesn't quite add up!


	15. Chapter 15

Heyyyy sorry for the delay. Again. Really I am. But rest assured there's only one more chapter left of this story meaning only one more time you'll have to put up with my laziness ^_^

Also, I want to say that Hiro will not be making an appearance in this story. Just so we're all clear on that…

Disclaimer: Can I just say the one from the first chapter carried through for all?

-xXx-

"_What are you doing here?"_

The brunette looked up, blinking in surprise before grinning over at Shuichi. "Finally, I was getting worried that you weren't going to come back tonight."

"You were looking for me?" Shuichi asked, eyes lighting up hopefully, maybe this night wouldn't be so terrible after all.

"Yeah, I came to return this."

Shuichi looked down at the object that was being offered to him. "My mask! How'd you find it?"

"I left something out there myself and I saw this lying in the gravel when I went to retrieve it. I wasn't sure this was yours but it seemed like there was a pretty good chance."

"Yeah, thank you! Hey, umm, you didn't see a necklace out there, did you?"

He thought for a bit and then slowly shook his head. "No…but if you tell me what it looks like I can ask around."

"It's dark gold with a heart locket on it. Nothing fancy, but still, it's important to me."

The brunette gazed at the distressed look that crossed over Shuichi's face and stepped forward with a smile to ruffle Shuichi's hair.

"I have should have some free time tomorrow in the late afternoon, if you like I can help you search for it."

Shuichi immediately lit up. "Really?"

"Of course, I'll meet you out there around 4."

Shuichi's face split into a grin, sure he could go looking for the necklace on his own anytime before then, but this way he got a new friend as well.

"Sure!" Shuichi shifted a sleeping Rue slightly in his arms so that he could finally accept the mask. "Thanks for bringing this to me by the way, you really didn't need to rush it."

The man shrugged. "It's ok, I wanted to. Good night, then. I'll see you tomorrow."

Shuichi repeated the sentiment with a smile and disappeared into his room. Shuichi wasn't entirely certain what time it was that he actually managed to fall asleep, nor was he sure what time it was that he woke up. All he really knew when he woke up was that he was starving and set off for the dining hall.

Upon arrival Shuichi saw that both his mother and father were already there as was Ryuichi. But from the looks of it, they were eating lunch, not breakfast.

"Oh! You're up!" His mother called out once she caught sight of him. "Ryuichi mentioned you were sick so we let you sleep. Come sit."

"How are you feeling today, Shuichi?" Ryuichi called, more or less bounding over to Shuichi as he approached the dining table and leading him over to their seats.

"Fine." Shuichi surveyed the room, looking for the blonde but finding no sign that he ever was or ever would be there. "Where's Yu—Eiri?"

"Out with Maiko." His father replied with a wink. "They went out riding and took a picnic. Who knows, maybe there'll be a wedding sometime in our near future."

"No!" Shuichi shouted before he could stop himself, causing an awkward silence to fill the room. "I mean he uh…doesn't smile enough."

"That's hardly a reason to condemn him." His mother reprimanded once she had recovered from her son's little outburst.

"Right. Sorry." Shuichi sat down next to his friend, paying no heed to the curious looks that were being sent his way and silently ate what food he could manage, doing his best to respond to Ryuichi's comments as normally as possible and ignore the mindlessly happy conversation that was passing between his parents, mostly about this potential relationship between Eiri and Maiko.

However, instead of subsiding like his tempers usually did, Shuichi found his frustration and irritation with Eiri growing by the second throughout the duration of the meal and just as soon as it was finished he was storming off in search of Eiri's rooms. He paused briefly to get better directions from a shocked and rather frightened servant who managed to point him to a door just down the hallway before running off.

The room wasn't empty as Shuichi had expected when he entered. All for the better as this way he could maintain this level of pure anger without losing it to over thinking and self-lectures. From the looks of it, Eiri had just gotten back, and, judging from the initial glower he received when he stepped into the room, he was very annoyed about something though the expression changed to one of surprise as soon as he noticed it was Shuichi standing before him.

"What the hell are you doing here? I thought I made it very clear last night that I really don't want to see you anymore." Eiri hissed as he approached, sending Shuichi an unhappy glare. Shuichi just glared right back, arms crossed strictly in front of him. Though the blonde never would have admitted it out loud, Shuichi's current posture and expression left him feeling slightly unnerved and discontented.

"You!" Shuichi exclaimed angrily, walking forward to jab Eiri in the center of his chest to emphasize the point he was surely about to make. "Stay away from my sister!" A shock of confusion ran through Eiri before the realization kicked in. Unfortunately, before he could say a single word in his defense, Shuichi had already set off again.

"I'm perfectly fine if you don't want to see _me_ anymore—"

"Shuichi—"

"But that doesn't mean you can just start chasing after my _sister_!"

"Oi!"

"I mean, she's _way_ younger than you! It's kind of gross…"

"Will you just shut up!" Eiri finally shouted. Shuichi halted in his speech and looked up in bewilderment but soon enough the glare was back in place and he had launched off into another trail of accusations, insults and lectures.

"No, I will not 'just shut up', Yuki—Eiri—whatever your name is now! Give me one good reason why I should do anything you tell me to."

"Of course." He muttered. "I forgot who I was talking to." Almost instantly he regretted speaking those words out loud.

"Before you start again I just want to say one thing." Eiri all but yelled incomprehensively. And without letting Shuichi deny him the chance he continued on, "I do not—nor will I _ever_—have any romantic interest in your sister."

Shuichi froze and then slowly released the breath he had drawn.

"You don't?"

Eiri shook his head. "Nope. She managed to corner me last night and insisted I go out riding and eat lunch with her. And I would have said no if your mother hadn't been eavesdropping."

There was a long period of slightly awkward silence which Eiri more or less managed to end by falling back into one of the armchairs that furnished his room, slamming his eyes shut in hopes of staving off whatever headache, nausea, or sanity breakdown that was sure to follow this bizarre discussion—if it could be called that.

"If that's all you came for then now would be a good time to go." He waited for anything—the sound of footsteps leaving or the opening and closing of his door—to indicate that Shuichi had gone but he heard nothing. Eventually, he ventured to open an eye, hoping that Shuichi had just been unbelievably (not to mention very uncharacteristically) quiet in his exit.

No such luck.

Shuichi was still standing in front of him, no longer looking angry—thank god—but instead wearing an expression of apprehension and insecurity.

"Something else you want to blindly accuse me of?" Eiri asked, closing his eyes and hoping that Shuichi would lose what little gumption he seemed to have and just leave.

"No…I just wanted to ask why you were being so mean to me."

"…That's your question?"

Shuichi nodded.

"Seems kind of juvenile."

"If it is then it shouldn't be hard to answer. I mean," Shuichi sat down in a chair across from Eiri, "I thought about it and it's one thing if you don't want me around…like you did on the ship." He explained, shifting awkwardly in his seat as he tried to find the right words to use. "But don't you think you were too mean?"

Eiri averted his gaze, although he had called the question childish, that had been more of an attempt to avoid answering it than anything else.

"Maybe it's because you tend to be rather slow on the uptake. I thought that was the best and surest way to get the idea into your head." He said finally, simply blurting out the first excuse he could think of.

"I am _not_ slow on the uptake." Shuichi countered indignantly.

"Sure. Think what you will. Either way, you have your answer, and I need to go find…something." Eiri trailed off, not really caring how lame his sentence sounded as long as it got him out of the room: if Shuichi wasn't going to leave, then he would.

Although Shuichi wasn't exactly thrilled about being walked out on in the middle of what he considered to be a very important conversation, he refrained from chasing down the blonde and demanding more answers for two reasons. One, he had a very strong feeling that he would only be ignored at best. And two, Eiri hadn't seemed himself. Shuichi hadn't sensed that usual bite that usually persisted in those insults that were so often thrown his way. They had felt so dead…

Shuichi brushed off the thought. Maybe if he just let Eiri calm down for a bit he could try again later.

-xXx-

"I really don't see how it could have gotten very far." Shuichi said as he knelt down to sift through the gravel around the bench for the millionth time. "I _know_ I took it off here…"

Shuichi and his newfound friend had been searching the ground around the bench for nearly 45 minutes with absolutely no luck.

"Come on, maybe someone accidentally kicked it along—you'd be surprised at how far things can end up traveling."

Shuichi nodded, unconvinced, and the two started wandering down the path lined with hedges and every now and then a rose bush. Eventually the searching faded into simply walking and talking. They covered all manner of minor details about Shuichi's life—the brunette was quite adept at turning the conversation back onto Shuichi whenever he asked him a question, something which bothered Shuichi immensely; no matter how he tried he couldn't get a name from the man. He knew his rather mysterious friend had grown up in England and had then moved down here to start anew. But that was it, that was all he had to go on.

"I'm sure you're tired of hearing and answering this question," Shuichi's new friend started, after a few minutes of silence, "But where did you go during your absence? What were you doing?"

"You really want to know?" Shuichi asked slowly, pausing in his walk to run his fingers along the petals of a nearby rose.

"I really want to know."

"Well too bad." Shuichi stated abruptly. "Nothing on that until _you_ tell me something else about you, other than your birthplace. I mean, I still don't even know your name!"

He heard a resigned sigh come from beside him and his hopes flared. "So if I tell you something else, you'll tell me about your little vacation?"

"Sure."

"Promise?" His companion asked, holding out his hand as if to make a deal.

"I promise." Shuichi vowed, taking the his hand with a small smile at the ridiculous formality of it all.

"Alright then. I used to be a teacher."

"Really?" Shuichi perked up. "What'd you teach?"

"General stuff, a little of everything I guess. Anyway I believe it's your turn to talk now."

"Oh come on, you have to give me more than that. How'd you end up here?"

"A boat."

Shuichi scowled at the simple response and didn't say a word more, planning on refusing to speak until he got some more substantial information.

"Fine, fine. Just tell me this, then. Are you glad you went?"

"Yes." Shuichi said quietly. "At least I think so…" He trailed off, falling into his own thoughts once more. This was a dilemma he had gone over with himself several times in the past day especially. On one hand he treasured the time he'd had on the ship but now with a certain someone acting the way they were, it was hard to say if it was worth it.

Shuichi felt his stomach give the first complaints of hunger and he was suddenly very aware that the light was quickly fading from the sky.

"We should get back," He said, breaking the silence that had fallen, "I had no idea so much time had passed."

"Of course, I'll escort you back."

Thankfully, the subject of Shuichi's little journey was dropped for the walk back and it turned instead to meaningless talk about stars and flowers. As they neared the warmly lit house however, Shuichi's companion slowed in his pace.

"I think I'll leave you here."

"Are you sure? I'm sure my family wouldn't mind if you joined us. They would be delighted to know that you can teach."

"Thank you, but I've got a few other things to see to. Have a nice meal."

Shuichi gave a quick, understanding nod and then all but dashed into the house, hoping his parents wouldn't be to angry with him.

Luckily for him, when he entered his parents attention was solely focused on Maiko and Eiri who were seated side by side at the dining room table, doing their best to answer whatever awkward questions Shuichi's parents managed to come up with. Shuichi's gaze remained locked on Eiri has he drew close to the table, completely transfixed (and very much annoyed) by the fake smile that adorned his face. As he stepped more into Eiri's line of vision, the blonde looked up at him sharply and Shuichi could have sworn he saw the faintest trace of relief reflected in those golden eyes. But for what reason, Shuichi couldn't decipher.

"Hey sorry I'm late." Shuichi murmured to his father as he passed by, breaking out of Eiri's stare.

"Shuichi! Finally! We were about to start without you. Eiri here was about ready to go out and search for you." His father cried happily.

Shuichi's eyes immediately shot straight back to Eiri though the other man conveniently occupied his attention otherwise.

"I'm sure he was just hungry." Shuichi managed once it was clear Eiri wasn't going to join in with this particular conversation.

"Where've you been all day, Shuichi?" Ryuichi asked quietly as soon as Shuichi sat down next to him.

"Oh uhm. I was out in the gardens." Shuichi supplied, keeping his answer simple as possible—this probably wasn't the best place or time to try and explain his mystery friend.

"Aw you should have told me! We could've played a game!" Ryuichi whined and Shuichi smiled at his friend apologetically.

"Sorry Ryu, next time I will."

Soon enough a smile was back on Ryuichi's face, Shuichi's little offense completely forgotten as he moved on. "So you still want to have a sleepover tonight?"

"Of course!" Shuichi exclaimed in excitement and soon enough the two were lost in their own little world, whispering plans of silly pranks and games they could play that night and for the time being everything that had happened in the past month was entirely forgotten.

"I'll go grab some more blankets from my room!" Shuichi said as he jumped up from the table as soon as his father had decided dinner was over.

"Do you want me to come and help?" Ryuichi offered though Shuichi just shook his head.

"I'll meet you at your room in a bit!" he promised before running off down the hallway.

Shuichi was in such a rush that he almost missed the white envelope sealed with a red wax that was precariously balanced on the handle of his door. As it was he only noticed it after he had knocked it to the floor. Picking it up, he turned it over curiously but found nothing save his name written on the outside. He broke the wax seal and a small piece of parchment dropped into his hand.

_I found your necklace, come meet me at the bench._

He flipped the note over and then the envelope. Still no other name could be found. Not that he didn't know who it was from but he was starting to wonder if this guy even had a name or if Shuichi would have to make one up for him.

Either way he wanted the necklace back in his possession as quickly as possible and rapidly switched directions, making his way towards the garden. He briefly considering dropping by Ryuichi's room and telling him he would be a little late but decided against it; this side trip couldn't take too long.

"I got your note! You found my necklace?" Shuichi panted, trying to catch his breath as he slowed in his run. The twilight provided very little lighting this far out in the garden, but Shuichi could see a faint smile in his mysterious friend's face. Though it wasn't his usual smile.

"I certainly did." He said, but the golden necklace didn't appear anywhere. "Walk with me?"

"S-Sure." Shuichi said slowly, slightly confused as to why a midnight walk was required for the return of his accessory.

After about 10 minutes of walking without a word passing between the two and only the crunch of gravel to break the silence, Shuichi turned towards his companion.

"Sorry, but I've got somewhere to be, do you think I could get the necklace now?" He asked.

"Actually, I don't have it."

"What?" Shuichi immediately stopped walking, feeling more than a little on edge in this new situation. "Then why did you say you did?"

"Honestly I did find your necklace but I've left it in someone else's care for the time being."

"Why did you call me out here?" Shuichi asked, carefully putting some space between himself and this man whom he was once again considering a stranger.

"You wanted to know more about me, right?" The brunette asked, ignoring the question and looking more towards the sky rather than Shuichi who was nodding slowly, unsure of where this was going. Whether he saw Shuichi's nod in his periphery or simply didn't care whether Shuichi actually answered or not, it wasn't clear, but regardless he continued.

"Then I guess we'll start with my name. It's Yuki. Yuki Kitazawa. And in advance, I'm sorry about this."

Even if Shuichi had been able to think of an intelligent question, he would never have been able to voice it as a smooth, cold cylinder was pressed against his temple, successfully crushing his ability to speak.

"I know this probably goes without saying, but just so we're both on the same page: scream and I _will_ shoot you. Clear?"

Shuichi forced himself to move his head in the tiniest nod though the rest of his body remained perfectly paralyzed in fear.

"If—If you want money—"

"Don't be so trite. Your money isn't what I'm after."

"Then what—" Shuichi stopped as realization dawned on him. Eiri.

"Impressive. Maybe you aren't as stupid as you seem." Shuichi gave a slight jump not realizing he had spoken the name out loud. "You see," Yuki continued, "I've found it's easiest to get what you want from someone by threatening whatever it is they most care for."

If the situation hadn't been so deadly, Shuichi would have laughed. "Then you're wrong," He said softly, "he hates me!"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. But what do you have to say on the subject, Eiri?" Yuki called out into the darkness.

-xXx-

So…If you guys can't tell, we're reaching the end of the story. The next chapter will be the last!

Thank you to everyone that reviewed the last chapter! I was honestly amazed by the number of people that reviewed it, I was expecting maybe three but you guys are too sweet and far too kind!

Candy Kane asked if Seb was based of Sebastian from Black Butler and I feel like now is as good a time as any to tell you all that no, he is not. I hadn't even heard of that show when I introduced that character I just adore that name! But now I've seen the show and his later appearances in this story were a little influenced by it.

And if by chance anyone is still reading this author note, I will just say that I'm sorry this story kind of took a darker turn. That wasn't intended but I couldn't find a way to avoid it so I apologize.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I claim no rights to Gravitation so please, leave me alone.

-xXx-

Shuichi drew in a sharp breath at the mention of the blonde's name, searching the surroundings for any sign of him and nearly smiled in relief as he saw Eiri step out of the shadows.

Shuichi opened his mouth, wanting to call out to Eiri, but there was a look of such severity son the other's face that Shuichi's voice froze in his throat. Besides, the blonde hadn't even spared Shuichi a single glance.

"This seems somehow familiar, am I right, Eiri?" Yuki said in a tone that seemed better suited for reminiscing about a fond experience rather than referring to this twisted mess they were currently in.

"Let him go."

"I would love to, but somehow I get the feeling that you'll try to kill me as soon as I do."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Eiri said, slowly taking a few steps closer to Shuichi and Yuki.

"Come now, is this any way to treat your old teacher? We used to have such fun together, remember?"

Something in Yuki's words struck a nerve in Eiri and in a second he had a gun out, pointed at both Shuichi and his former tutor.

"Careful." Yuki said calmly, pressing the barrel of the gun more firmly against Shuichi's temple. "You don't want to lose your lover now do you?"

"What do you want?" Eiri spat, blatantly ignoring the mocking tone Yuki had used on the term 'lover'.

"Simple. I want you to stop trying to kill me. It's been nearly seven years, let it go already." Yuki's tone had an eerie, almost hypnotically fluid tone to it that caused a shiver to run though Shuichi's body as he spoke. "I mean, at this point what do you gain from killing me?"

Eiri remained completely silent and Yuki sighed in exasperation.

"Come on, Eiri. Forget the past, just think of what we could do together from now on! I bet if we wanted, you and I, we could leave this place and rule the seas together! What do you say?"

Shuichi's eyes went wide at the thought of the blonde leaving him with this man of all people and the longer Eiri took in answering, the stronger the cry that was building in his throat became until it finally released itself in a sudden cry of "No!"

Yuki slapped his free hand across Shuichi's mouth, hissing at him to shut up.

Shuichi just glared at the brunette and bit down as hard as he could. A metallic, acrid tasting liquid dripped into his mouth and he heard Yuki curse as the hand was ripped away from his mouth. He jabbed his elbow backwards in hopes of an impromptu release only this time Yuki was more prepared and his attempt was met with a sharp slap across his face that sent Shuichi stumbling to the ground.

In that instant, the whole situation changed. Eiri forgot Yuki, his concern for Shuichi taking unexpected precedence over the matter at hand, and he leapt forward, calling Shuichi's name.

Yuki must have mistaken the motion as an attack as he turned in surprise, firing his six-round revolver wildly in Eiri's direction until the gun clicked to empty. In the end, Eiri was still standing, with a look that could freeze a flame and before another word could be said, he had raised his gun and fired three shots.

Shuichi watched, horrified, as the body next to him jerked violently backwards, finally falling back into the gravel where he went completely still. For a few long seconds, all Shuichi could do was stare at the corpse until a groan of pain broke his transfixion. Whirling around, he could see Eiri had dropped to his knees and was curled protectively around his left side.

"Yuki!" He cried, running over to assist the blonde.

"I'm fine." He hissed through tightly clenched teeth, his good arm gripping his other above a bullet wound in a weak attempt at self-tourniquet. Even so, blood slipped steadily from the wound, creating an ever-darkening stain of red down the length of his arm. "I just—" He tried to stand but a wave of dizziness knocked into him and his knees hit the gravel once more. Shuichi was at his side in an instant, covering the wound with his own hands, not caring in the least that they soon became slick with blood as well.

"You'll be ok." Shuichi reassured, both for himself and for Eiri. "You have to be ok."

"I told you I'm fine." Eiri said, though his voice was weak. "Help me back to the house."

Shuichi nodded and the blonde to his feet, supporting his weight as he could. They had barely made it 50 yards down the path when Eiri collapsed again, this time in a dead faint.

Time seemed to move slowly in the moments that followed and all Shuichi was really aware of was the dark pool of blood forming on the left side of Eiri's body that the shadows made so much larger. Yet in a flash the world sped up again and he found himself sprinting as fast as he could towards the house, the paths of the gardens stretching out endlessly before him.

By the time he found his parents he was completely out of breath and couldn't even muster the strength to do anything more than look at them desperately, trying to form words though no sound would come out.

"Shuichi!" His mother exclaimed, shocked by the sudden intrusion. "What on earth…" She trailed off as she caught sight of her son's anguished state and her face went sheet white as her eyes landed on his blood-covered hands.

"What happened?" His father asked, already out of his chair and checking his son for injuries.

"I'm fine." Shuichi choked, emotion starting to get the better of him. "It's Eiri, he's in the garden…he's been shot."

Almost instantly, Shuichi's father had ordered one servant to muster a group to carry the injured man back to the house and another to fetch a doctor.

"Shuichi." His mother said softly, holding either side of his face with her hands, wiping away at tears he hadn't even known existed. "Are you sure you're alright?"

Shuichi nodded just as he felt his father's hand come to rest on his shoulder.

"Can you take us to him?"

-xXx-

Shuichi led the group at a near sprint to where he had left Eiri lying. When they arrived however, the group stopped short. Shuichi looked around in agitation, wondering what could possibly be so distracting. And then he remembered Yuki. He hadn't spared a single thought to the other man since he had seen Eiri fall. Now he only hoped that his father would understand and help him.

Shuichi's father was the first to recover and he gave brief instructions for the others to get Eiri back to the house and into his bed as quickly and safely as they could before taking his son aside.

"Shuichi what's going on?" His father asked quietly. "Who is this?"

"I—I don't know." Shuichi lied finally. "But if Eiri hadn't come… He only fired in self defense, I swear!" Shuichi said, completely unaware of how disjointed his explanation seemed. After a moment his father put an arm around him, guiding him slowly back towards the house.

When they got home, they found that Eiri had already been lain in his bed and the doctor was deeply entrenched in his work, removing shards of bullet from a side wound Shuichi hadn't even been aware Eiri had received.

"Shuichi, why don't you go wash up?" His mother suggested quietly, noting the distressed expression on her son's face.

"I don't need to." Shuichi replied automatically, unable to take his gaze from the blonde. His mother didn't say anything, instead she rather forcefully steered Shuichi from the room so he might at least wash his hands.

Shuichi had completely forgotten about the blood that had by now dried onto his hands. As he looked at it, watching it wash away in swirls of pink within the warm water, he was overcome by an overwhelming feeling of guilt that it was his fault that the man he loved was injured and possibly dying nearby. And quite suddenly he was sobbing, rambling indistinguishable words to his mother who calmly soothed him, wiping away small streaks of blood that stained the edges of his face with a warm cloth until the cries ceased.

"Perhaps you should get to bed, dear."

Shuichi shook his head. "Not until I know he's ok." His mother just looked at him with concern and handed him a change of clothes.

"You're shirt's dirty." She said simply, as if not mentioning the red stain across it would make the reality less than what it was. Shuichi accepted the clothes without another word and stepped behind the screen to change.

"Shuichi if you're tired it's ok for you to go to sleep, you've done everything you can for him forcing yourself to stay awake won't do anyone any good." His mother reasoned, trying once more to convince her son to get some much needed rest.

Shuichi bit his lip, a small part of him wanted to tell his mother everything but logic argued that a confession of loving another man would not be well met. "I know. I just want to stay with him for a bit longer."

"Very well." She conceded, walking him back to the room Eiri was lying unconscious in.

The doctor had, by the time they returned, carefully cleaned and bandaged his side and was now working the same procedure on his arm.

"Will he be alright?" Shuichi asked earnestly, tearing his gaze away from Eiri to look at the doctor who was now methodically checking the temperature of Eiri's good hand and his feet.

The doctor paused briefly in his work to glance disapprovingly in Shuichi's direction, clearly not pleased with the interruption of his concentration. "That's a lot of blood he's lost. He'll certainly be weak for a while so he can't do anything too exciting, but from the vital signs I can collect, I think he should be just fine. He's lucky, that shot in the side just skimmed him."

"And his arm?"

The doctor stepped away completely, apparently done with his examination and looked at Shuichi directly. "It'll take a while to fully heal and my guess is it will be a little stiff for some years to come, but the wound won't kill him."

It was all Shuichi could do to resist flinging his arms around the doctor's neck in his gratitude. Before he could express his happiness however, his parents stepped in and took control of the conversation, arranging for the doctor to return in the morning. Shuichi, being completely uninterested in the topic, went back to Eiri's side, pulling up a chair so he could sit comfortably next to him while he gently carded his fingers through the locks of golden hair.

"I must admit you're surprising me, Shu. I thought you didn't care much for him." His mother said softly, coming up behind him and rubbing his shoulders gently.

"Oh." Shuichi instantly drew his hand back. "I—Well I mean it would just be awful to lose him so soon after finding him again. And before his family got here at that!"

"Of course." She said with a smile, kissing her son's cheek. "We'll be going back to bed then. I trust you'll look after him?" Shuichi nodded and his mother kissed him once more. "Wake us if anything happens."

"I will." Shuichi promised quietly, though his focus was now solely back on the blonde, so much so that he didn't hear them say goodnight or close the door.

"Please get better." Shuichi whispered, resting his forehead against Eiri's. "I don't care if you hate me, just please get better."

There was no response—not that he had expected any—and eventually he settled himself in for a long night of waiting.

It wasn't long before the yawns started—Shuichi was dead exhausted but he couldn't bring himself to go to bed, not until Eiri opened his eyes at least. Leaning forward in his chair he hovered over Eiri, hesitating slightly before leaning down a pressing a quick kiss to his lips. He waited for a minute or so, watching for the slightest change in the other that might indicate that he was awake. But there was nothing and with a silent sigh he sat back down.

"I suppose that was too much to hope for. And anyway I'm not exactly a prince." He muttered to the silence, slumping back into his chair. Sleep and fatigue started to weigh down his eyes and occasionally he found himself jolting awake after dozing off.

Eventually, it got to a point where Shuichi realized he absolutely had to find some way of making himself stay awake or he would end up being asleep when Eiri woke up. So, very softly, he started to sing a gentle, calming melody that drifted slowly back into his memory from childhood, a song his mother used to sing as a lullaby to both Maiko and himself.

The exact words were impossible for him to remember but the tune was there and he found it both easy and entertaining to manipulate the lyrics however he saw fit. He went around in circles for a while, changing the verses each time he started anew. Finally Shuichi had expended his spontaneous rhyming ability and he let his last note trail off, though the silence that followed was short-lived.

"Not bad, brat. Sure your lyrics could use some work, but at least your singing voice isn't quite as grating as your normal one."

Shuichi went absolutely still in shock but one look at Yuki's cool, golden eyes staring complacently up at him was all it took for Shuichi to burst into tears once more.

"What the hell? Opening my eyes means I'm alive, not dead!" Eiri exclaimed, clearly both annoyed and thrown-off by Shuichi's reaction.

"I know!" Shuichi wailed, wiping futilely at the steady stream of tears falling down his face. "I was just so worried…" Shuichi shut his eyes and bit his lip, trying to quell the sobs when he felt long fingers brushing gently through his hair. He cracked one eye open and through the blurriness of the saltwater that flooded his vision he saw for himself that it was indeed Eiri and not his imagination that was stroking his hair so sweetly. And presently his cries ceased.

"Ah thank god you stopped." The blonde said in relief, letting his hand drop down to the blankets. "I'm in enough pain as it is, I don't need your screeching to make it any worse."

"I'm sorry." Shuichi whispered softly, rubbing the remnants of the drying tears from his cheeks.

If it hadn't been so dark, Shuichi would have seen a very rare—but sincere—apologetic look cross Eiri's face. "It's fine. I've mostly learned how to tune you out now anyway."

"Jerk." Shuichi muttered with a small smile; if Eiri was already acting like this again, then there couldn't be too much wrong with him. "Anyway, how are you feeling?"

"Gee, I don't know. Kind of like I've been shot because some idiot had to go and get himself into a hostage situation."

Shuichi looked down guiltily. "Er yeah, sorry about that."

Eiri cleared his throat uncomfortably, he hadn't actually meant to make Shuichi feel bad, it was just one of those things he always managed to inadvertently do.

"It's not your fault. And anyway, you should go to bed or something." He suggested, even as he felt his own eyelids begin to droop with the weight of exhaustion. "It's been a long day."

There was a long silence from Shuichi's end during which Eiri wasn't sure if he had fallen asleep or if he was just being unnaturally quiet.

"Can I stay with you?" Came a very hesitant question.

"Huh? …I—sure." Eiri said, tripping over his words after being thrown off by the unexpected query. "So long as you promise not to jump on either me or the bed…or do anything else that I might find irritating for that matter."

"Promise!"

He could only assume Shuichi was grinning as he ran around to the other side of the bed and very carefully slid under the covers and across towards the blonde so he could attach himself to Eiri's good arm

"I'm sorry." Eiri said with a tone of mock confusion. "What exactly makes you think you can just cling to me again?"

"Mostly the fact that there really isn't much you can do right now to stop me." Shuichi said with a smile, pushing himself up just enough to be able to kiss his cheek.

Eiri managed to grumble some sort of incoherent response but in the end made no move to pull his arm away, far too tired to care at this point. Besides, the warmth of another person was comforting to him at this moment.

"You knew he was here, didn't you." Shuichi stated abruptly, ending the peaceful silence that Eiri had been enjoying.

"Yes." Eiri responded bluntly, no longer in the mood to play games.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't see how it's any of your business."

"I could have helped you—"

"That's exactly what I didn't want!" Eiri snapped, the burst of anger took more energy than he could afford and for a while he didn't say another word. Yet the words rang in the air and the more time that passed without a response from Shuichi, the guiltier he felt.

"Look, Shuichi. I just thought it was safer you didn't know. That's all. …I didn't want you getting hurt. Not that it mattered in the end…I should have known you'd find a way to get involved. Stubborn brat." He trailed off awkwardly, slightly embarrassed by his own words.

"Hey…" Shuichi ventured as a slow realization came to him.

"Hm?"

"Then, when you said you hated me the other night, did you mean it?"

The question seemed to hang in the air for a long while until Eiri gave an exasperated sigh.

"When you're keeping me from sleeping like this? Yes. I do."

"What about other times?" Shuichi pressed, apparently unaffected by Eiri's initial response.

"…Doesn't matter." Eiri muttered, sorely wishing he could just role onto his side and ignore Shuichi.

"Does too."

"Does—fine. I don't hate you. Happy?"

"Kind of…does that mean you_ like_ me then?" Shuichi asked, propping himself up so as to see any expression that might pass across Eiri's face.

The blonde growled and looked away, irritated at finding himself in such a situation in which he didn't have the upper hand.

"Look. I'm not about to confess my undying love for you so please get any stupid fantasies out your mind right now." Eiri bit his lip regretfully as he saw that bright flare of hope dim in Shuichi's eyes.

" …However," Eiri paused and shut his eyes. "You do a good job of keeping me from being bored at the very least."

Shuichi frowned, unsure if the comment was a compliment or not.

"Yukiiii!" Shuichi whined, dropping back to the name he was so much more used to using in his moment of frustration.

"Yes?" He asked, opening his eyes again and looking rather pleased with himself.

"Quit ignoring the question like that!"

"What question?" Shuichi just glared in response and a tiny smile passed across Eiri's face though his expression quickly turned serious. He untangled his arm from Shuichi's, carefully brushing his fingers across Shuichi's cheek where Yuki had hit him eliciting a slight wince from Shuichi.

"Sorry. This shouldn't have happened."

"Huh? No! I'm fine, you're the one who was shot!"

Eiri didn't say anything in response, just bit his lip wishing he had the courage to say everything he wanted to say and everything Shuichi needed to hear.

"Go to sleep, Shuichi." He said finally.

He heard a soft "ok" come from above him followed by a cautious "I love you."

"Shuichi!" Eiri called impulsively, stopping the younger male before he settled down next to him.

"What?"

Not having anything else to say, he locked his fingers into the hair at the base of Shuichi's head and pulled him down stopping just when their lips were mere centimeters apart and Eiri was suddenly very uncertain of his actions.

As if in answer to an unasked question, Shuichi dropped his head the tiny distance it took to make their lips meet in a brief, hesitant kiss. But even as he tried to pull away Eiri tightened his grip in Shuichi's hair, deepening Shuichi's innocent kiss as he tried to pour all of his apologies and reasonings and feelings into this one simple motion and wishing beyond everything that these injuries were gone so he could do more. Shuichi returned the gesture in full and it took all of Eiri's willpower to finally release him.

"Yuki…" Shuichi breathed, his face still painfully close to Eiri's. "Does this mean…"

"You really are an idiot." Eiri muttered, pushing Shuichi back down so he could lie beside him and wondering why Shuichi seemed to need to hear everything said in words. "I'm tired and injured. So goodnight." The blonde said with a tone of finality, letting his eyes shut with exhaustion.

"Wait…do you—"

"Yes! Now sleep!"

More or less satisfied, Shuichi curled up next to Eiri and quickly drifted into sweet dreams, completely unaware that Eiri was still lying wide awake beside him. The blonde was no idiot, he knew there was no way this kind of relationship with Shuichi would be accepted in society but he also found he no longer had the ability to let him go.

"I knew I should have thrown you overboard when I had the chance." He muttered, staring up at the darkened ceiling that held only the faintest trace of moonlight in it's shadows.

But everything in due time.

-xXx-

I don't know how to end this story. This chapter was initially 2,000 words longer but I can't decide where to go so I cut it off here for now, I figured you guys had waited long enough, I owed you something, eh? :D

I know I usually do replies, but I've really got to get started on this essay so I just want to say, thanks for reviewing everyone! You guys make my day, love you all


	17. Chapter 17

Yo. I think I may have confused people about whether or not the last chapter was the end. It probably didn't help that it took me like…a year to update this hehe

Just so we're all clear this time around, this chapter is the last one!

Warnings for this chapter: awkward family encounters.

And final disclaimer for this story: I claim no ownership of the Gravitation characters.

And last thing, sorry about the length. This is much longer than I generally like my chapters to be. But I wanted it done, so take your time and enjoy!

-xXx-

Shuichi awoke to a sharp flick in the middle of his forehead.

"Wha—?" He mumbled, blearily opening his eyes and looking around.

"If he was already taken you should have just told me." Maiko stated, grinning smugly down at her brother who wasn't entirely awake enough to process her words. When they finally did sink in, he sat straight up, staring at his sister in mortification, throwing Eiri's arm off of him in the process and jolting the blonde awake.

"Ow! What the fuck, brat!"

"Oops. Sorry." Shuichi mumbled, looking back down to make sure he hadn't re-opened any of Eiri's wounds. Satisfied that Eiri was only irritated at being woken up in such a manner he turned back to his sister, chewing on his lip as he tried to find the proper words to say in such a situation.

"Save it, big brother. What or who you do in your spare time is of no interest to me."

"Huh? We're not—we haven't—Eiri!" Shuichi gave the blonde a pleading look, begging him to get him out of the awkward situation.

Eiri was just watching the siblings with an expression of pure amusement. Apparently this was worth the sudden wake up.

"This has nothing to do with me." He stated simply.

Shuichi scowled.

"Fine, fine. We haven't done anything of the sort that you seem to be implying." Shuichi smiled at him gratefully. "Well, not yet at least."

Shuichi turned bright red at the comment and whirled back around to face his sister who only looked mildly surprised.

"Don't tell mom!" Shuichi blurted, not even considering denial of the situation as an option.

"Mom? Alright…but she was in here earlier, you know. Guess we should have figured that there would be a side effect to all your cross-dressing." Maiko muttered thoughtfully to herself, ignoring the glare her brother was now giving her.

"That was forced cross-dressing and you know it!" Shuichi protested indignantly.

"True, true!" Maiko said, grinning again. "Anyway, mom told me to let you know that the doctor was on his way and that you should go get some breakfast and some ice for that bruise of yours."

Shuichi looked momentarily confused before remembering that Yuki had hit him rather hard the previous evening. Shuichi gingerly put his one hand to his cheek and winced. He could tell it had swelled up during the night and he didn't even want to know what it looked like.

"Alright." Shuichi said, sliding over to the edge of the bed. "I'll be right there." He gave a rather indiscreet glance back at Eiri.

"Whatever you say. But don't be too long." Maiko said with a wave as she left, closing the door a little too loudly on her way out.

"Yuki…" Shuichi began, defaulting to his old way of referring to the blonde.

"Shuichi?" Eiri mocked, enjoying Shuichi's awkwardness—he knew where this conversation was headed, but that didn't mean he had to make it any easier for Shuichi.

"Did you…mean that?"

Eiri attempted a shrug only to hiss in pain as it pulled at his injuries.

"Are you ok?" Shuichi asked, his focus quickly changing to one of concern for Eiri's wellbeing.

"I'll be fine. You should do as she says and get some ice—you look like some kid tried to watercolor around your eye."

"What about you?" Shuichi asked uncertainly.

Eiri rolled his eyes. "I think I can take care of myself for the 5 minutes it'll take for the doctor to get here. I'm not a complete invalid you know."

Shuichi shrugged. "You're sick enough for me to have to take care of you."

"I'm not sick, you idiot. I was shot. There's a difference."

"Oh. Then, you're crippled enough for me to have to take care of you. Better?"

Eiri just groaned in frustration. "Never mind. Just go."

Shuichi looked at Eiri momentarily before shrugging and making to leave. Halfway to the door, Shuichi turned around and ran back, kissing Eiri on the cheek with a shy smile and a bright red blush. Eiri just watched him leave, wondering for the millionth time what it was that attracted him so much to silly kisses, stupid comments and not to mention the ridiculous amount of near-death situations.

_Oh right._ Eiri thought, touching his cheek with his good hand, _He's damn well adorable._

-xXx-

It had been eight weeks since Eiri had been shot and for most of the time since then, the blonde had been completely confined to the bed, though at the very least his arm was free of the sling and splint. Shuichi had insisted on spending every night with Eiri, explaining to his parents that someone needed to be there in case anything happened. His father had made a small speech telling Shuichi how proud of him he was for taking on such a responsibility while his mother had just laughed and nodded with a slight twinkle in her eye.

Eiri hadn't gotten a say in whether or not Shuichi stayed with him and surprisingly there were only a few nights when he legitimately wanted to toss the smaller boy out the window. Regardless, he made the threat every night.

Neither man touched on the subjects of the past or the future—Shuichi wanted to let Eiri heal in peace and Eiri didn't want to discuss anything until he was feeling less pathetic and more like his old self. He would have sworn that being trapped in the bed was starting to take a toll on his mental health, especially with Shuichi around.

Finally the doctor had given the ok for Eiri to spend longer periods of time out of bed, though he stressed that he wasn't allowed to be up for long periods of time nor was he allowed to do anything remotely strenuous. Nevertheless, Eiri had been thrilled at the news—on the inside at least—he was absolutely sick of being trapped in the same room.

"Eiri!" Shuichi called, jumping into the room, just as the doctor was helping him to sit up.

"What the hell's got you so excited this time?" Eiri asked, slowly putting weight onto his feet as he stood.

Shuichi grinned at the sight—usually someone would be helping him support his weight and Shuichi could only imagine how happy Eiri was to not have to rely on someone else.

"Can I take him to lunch?" Shuichi asked the doctor who nodded his consent.

"Take it slow and if he starts getting dizzy have him sit down." The doctor cautioned as he grabbed his bags and headed out.

"Ready?" Shuichi asked, approaching Eiri.

"Sure." Shuichi moved to wrap his arm around the blond as he usually did to support him but stopped, remembering that theoretically, Eiri should be able to walk by himself. Shuichi seriously doubted if Eiri would let him do that ever again now that he was well on the mend.

A hand interlocking with his own broke Shuichi out of his thoughts.

"Just for security." Eiri muttered and Shuichi's smile was back in full force.

The two made it to the dining hall just as the food was being served.

"Did Shuichi tell you the news?" His mother asked, cutting into her chicken.

Eiri glanced over at Shuichi who was now frantically trying to pull something out of his pocket.

"No, he hasn't mentioned anything."

A piece of paper appeared before him, held out by a slightly sheepish looking Shuichi.

"Sorry, I kind of forgot. We got a letter from your family. They're coming down to see you!"

Eiri took the letter and scanned the contents. It seemed to have been written in haste, simply stating that they were overjoyed that Eiri had been found, alive and healthy—he could only assume the letter from Shuichi's parents had been sent before he was shot—and finally the letter mentioned that they were on their way down to visit as soon as they were packed. Meaning they would most likely be arriving within the next few days.

Emotion after emotion raced through Eiri, ranging from happiness to fear to dread.

"You ok?" Shuichi asked, resting his hand on Eiri's upper arm.

"You really couldn't think to mention this before?" He hissed.

"Sorry, I thought you'd be happy to see your family again."

"I am happy!" Eiri defended, sounding anything but happy. "It's just a surprise is all."

"Really? Because you don't look too happy. I don't know if you know this, but usually people smile when they're happy."

Eiri scowled. "Excuse me for not being as overly dramatic with my emotions as you are."

Shuichi opened his mouth to retort but was interrupted by someone clearing their throat and the two were suddenly brought back to the fact that they weren't quite as alone as they usually were.

"If you two are quite finished with your little lover's quarrel, I think your food is getting cold." Shuichi's mother remarked calmly, the tiniest smile on her mouth.

"Lover's quarrel?" Shuichi sputtered, his facing turning bright red at the words. "Mom, what are you—"

"Please, sweetheart, don't insult our intelligence. You've been practically glowing these past few weeks. Wouldn't you agree, dear?" She asked, addressing her husband who sat across the table.

Shuichi's face became even redder and he slowly sunk down into his seat, looking over at his father.

Shuichi's father seemed to want to have as little to do with this conversation as Shuichi himself did. His skin was a little more pale then usual but he nodded and even managed a slight smile.

"Of course." Shuichi could only imagine his mother had a huge amount to do with his fathers relatively easy acceptance of this bizarre situation.

"Lovely." Shuichi said sitting up and fully intending to change the topic of conversation. "So…what's for dessert?"

The rest of the lunch conversation, much to Shuichi's relief, steered clear of Shuichi's relationship with Eiri and instead focused on Maiko who had apparently found some guy she was completely infatuated with. Even so, as soon as lunch was over, Shuichi all but jumped up, not only to escape the ever-watchful eyes of his family, but because Eiri hadn't said a single word after the little letter fiasco.

Shuichi felt a hand on his arm as he exited the room and he looked up to see his father staring at him.

"Shuichi may I speak to you?" Shuichi blanched, a sinking feeling that this conversation was not going to go well filled him.

"I'll take Eiri back." His mother promised softly and then the two were left alone.

"I won't take much of your time. I just want to tell you…I love you. You're my son, Shuichi, and I love you so if this is what you want, I give you my blessing. But if you ever become unhappy just say the word and I'd be more than happy to get rid of him."

Shuichi stared at his father in absolute shock before flinging his arms around his neck and hugging him tightly.

"That won't be necessary." Shuichi whispered. "But…thank you!"

His father simply patted his back awkwardly and pushed him off. Shuichi smiled once more at his dad before darting off to find Eiri. His mother was just exiting the blonde's chambers as he rounded the corner.

"Shuichi! That was quick!"

"Er yeah…how's Eiri?"

"You know him better than I do, but I have a feeling that you might want to talk to him about his family."

Shuichi nodded even as his mother was walking away and slowly entered the room to see Eiri back in his usual place on the bed.

"Sorry I didn't tell you earlier." Shuichi said as he approached the blonde.

"It's fine." Eiri responded mildly. "It's just been a while since I had any contact with them…So what did your father have to say?"

Shuichi shrugged. "Ehh…Just that he loves me and such. Also he threatened to kill you."

"That's…sweet?"

Shuichi grinned and shrugged, settling onto the bed next to Eiri.

"Don't worry, I wouldn't let that happen."

Eiri rolled his eyes. "Yes. I feel so at ease now."

-xXx-

Within the next two weeks, Eiri's family had arrived—or part of it at least. His mother had to see someone about a dog and hadn't been able to make it. However his father and brother both showed up at their door late one night long after Eiri had fallen asleep. Shuichi had very quickly made the executive decision to let Eiri stay asleep with the promise of ensuring Eiri would meet them first thing in the morning.

"Sure we can't just pretend I got violently ill and can't see anyone?" Eiri questioned as he followed Shuichi to the room his father was staying in.

Shuichi just gave his lover a look and all but shoved Eiri through a set of doors they had arrived at. Eiri glared behind him though Shuichi just grinned and shut the door.

Before Eiri had barely taken 5 steps into the room, he was knocked back to the ground by a dark-eyed, ebony-haired duplicate of himself.

"Bro! It _is_ you! I admit I wasn't entirely convinced when they told us." He pushed away slightly, looking down at Eiri with a scrutinizing frown. "It _is_ you, isn't it?"

"Yes! It's me!" Eiri exclaimed, shoving his brother away in annoyance. "Now get off, Tatsuha, before I punch any remaining sense out of your head."

Tatsuha jumped up and reached down to haul his brother to his feet.

"You sure became charming during your mysterious absence." Tatsuha remarked dryly.

"And yet you're still the same annoying brat." Eiri shot back.

"If you're quite done bickering," a voice cut in, "I, too, would like a chance to greet my son."

Eiri approached his father with the tiniest trace of hesitation, holding out a hand for his father to shake. The eldest Uesugi instead pulled his son into a heartfelt—if slightly awkward—hug.

"It's good to see you, son." Eiri mirrored the sentiment automatically and released his father. He hadn't lied when he told his father it was good to see him, however something was telling him that this reunion wouldn't go too smoothly.

"Now then, we've got a lot of catching up to do!" He said, motioning for his two sons to take a seat. "I'm afraid once you left Tatsuha took over as my successor in the court but nevertheless, I'm certain with our connections finding you a job in London will prove no difficulty."

"Father, with all due respect, I would prefer to stay here."

"Here? Nonsense. You've been away for long enough. You've had your fun here, I'm sure, but you've got a real life waiting for you in London. It's high time for you to get married and settle down."

"Married?" Eiri chocked out. God this was worse than he had expected.

"Certainly! I'm afraid your original fiancé—Ayaka, lovely girl—has been married, not too long ago actually."

"How wonderful." Eiri muttered sarcastically, realizing a moment too late that he probably hadn't chosen the best tone or comment for the situation judging by the dark look that came across his father's face.

"You're coming back to London with us and that's final. We're leaving in two weeks." His father clipped shortly.

"I've already told you, I want to—"He cut himself off, realizing there was no way his father would back down. "Fine. Now if we're done I'll be on my way." Eiri said, standing and quickly exiting the room—he had a letter that needed to be written and sent immediately.

-xXx-

"Eiri!" Shuichi sang, dancing into the other's room and jumping onto his bed. "How'd it go?"

Eiri was silent for a moment. "I'm going back to London."

Shuichi sat up.

"What?"

"My father wants me to settle down—you know, marriage, kids, the whole deal."

Shuichi went very quiet, torn between doing what he thought to be the right thing and giving the blonde his support or asking for him not to go.

"Will you? Get married I mean."

"I don't know." He muttered, without any real commitment to the words. Shuichi was looking at him with a lost expression and Eiri could tell he was trying to find the right words to use.

"Look," he began, interrupting Shuichi's mental confusion, "you were the one who was so insistent on me meeting with my family. You can't really say you didn't expect they would want something like this."

"No…I guess I was just hoping they would be happy enough to see you that they'd let you do what you want."

Eiri studied Shuichi for a moment. "Yeah, well not all parents are as understanding as yours."

-xXx-

Eiri and his family weren't scheduled to leave for another couple weeks, and during that time Shuichi, when not with Eiri, spent his time puzzling over what course of action he should take.

Finally, the night before the Uesugi family was set to leave, Shuichi made his way to Eiri's father's rooms.

"Sir, I have a request." Shuichi said, after being admitted and doing his utmost to appear tough and confident.

"Yes, what is it?" The elder Uesugi asked, busily packing the last few objects scattered on his desk.

"Please allow me to accompany you to London."

The lawyer looked Shuichi over carefully, scrutinizing him as if he could read everything about him from his appearance.

"I don't see why not." He said finally. "You're family has been very kind in taking care of my son, I'd love to return the favor. I assume you've talked to your parents about this?"

"Eh…" Shuichi cursed mentally, he had entirely forgotten about his own family. "Of course! Now if you'll excuse me, I should get packing." Shuichi said, running off to find his parents as soon as he was out the door. Luckily his mother and father took little convincing, only requesting that Shuichi stay safe and to keep in touch. The remainder of the night was used for packing and spending time with his family.

It wasn't until the next day that Shuichi realized he had entirely forgotten to tell Eiri he would be accompanying them.

Oh well.

Surprises were always fun.

-xXx-

Mid-afternoon the following day, both families made their way down to the docs to the large ship that waited to carry four of them across the sea.

"What the hell are you doing?" Eiri asked, taking note of Shuichi's bags.

"Didn't your father tell you?" Shuichi asked grinning brightly, "I'm coming with you!"

Eiri's eyes widened. "What? Since when?"

"Since I asked him last night." Shuichi had to resist the urge to laugh at Yuki's look of surprise.

Eiri sighed, leaning back against the railing of the ship. "I swear, you're like a little abandoned creature that won't stop following me."

"Hey! Don't bring Rue into this!" Shuichi chided angrily. Eiri looked momentarily bewildered but shrugged it off in the end; Shuichi really had a knack for misunderstanding things for his benefit. It was something Eiri found oddly endearing.

"Speaking of that little rat—"

"Cat!"

"Whatever. She coming along?"

Shuichi gave a dejected sigh. "No. Mom said London wouldn't be safe for her. Besides, if I'm leaving, Maiko's going to be lonely."

"That's disgustingly thoughtful of you."

"Shuichi! Let's get your stuff to your room!" Shuichi's mother called, interrupting or perhaps saving Shuichi from saying anything if response.

"I'll be back soon." Shuichi promised, running off to join his family. Eiri remained on deck, not really having any luggage to have to take to his room.

By the time Shuichi had said his final good-bye to his family and put everything away to his satisfaction, the ship had apparently long since set sail. Running back up onto deck, Shuichi began his search for Eiri. It didn't take long to find him, standing out at the railing, looking out at the sea with a rare smile on his face.

"You look happy." Shuichi commented, walking up to stand next to him and looking around at the view which contained only water and sky.

Eiri's smile quickly disappeared and he shrugged, turning away from the scene. "I suppose so."

Shuichi scowled. "What's wrong with you, you've been very distant lately. More than usual I mean."

"Sorry. Let's go down to the room, I have something for you."

Instantly Shuichi's demeanor brightened and he skipped alongside Eiri, chatting unendingly until they were below deck.

"So what was it you wanted to give me?" Shuichi asked once they had entered Eiri's room.

"Gee, you're so patient." The blonde said sarcastically with a roll of his eyes. Shuichi just smiled. "Alright, close your eyes."

Shuichi looked at Eiri suspiciously. "You better not try anything weird." He muttered but did as he was told. He felt Eiri take his hand and press something cool and metal into his palm. His eyes snapped open as he recognized the shape of a heart attached to a chain.

"How'd you end up with this?" Shuichi asked; he had assumed the necklace to be lost forever.

"It was hanging on my door with a note attached that night. Of course Yuki didn't have the decency to give me a specific location and I had to search that whole damn garden for you!"

"Sorry." Shuichi mumbled, blushing lightly. "Oh! So that's how you knew where to find me!" He exclaimed after another moment.

"Well, yeah…what did you think happened?"

"I don't know. I guess I just assumed you had miraculously sensed that I was in trouble and ran to help."

Eiri gave and exasperated sigh. "Sometimes—no—most of the time, you worry me."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Shuichi exclaimed. "What have ever done that's worrisome?"

"Do you want me to start the list?"

"Just try." Shuichi said defiantly.

"Alright then," Eiri began, lying back on his bed with his hands behind his head. "One: you decided it would be a good idea to sneak onto a pirate ship. Two: you almost got yourself lost in Curacao because you just couldn't stay put. Three: you wandered off into the caves after I specifically told you to stay put. Four:—"

"Ok! I get it."

"Good, I'm glad you've realized your stupidity."

"I never said I was stupid!" Shuichi argued.

"Really? Because all of those things _I_ think were really, really stupid."

"Everything turned out alright, didn't it?"

"That's because I was there." The blonde retorted.

Shuichi crossed his arms and looked away in a pout. "At least I'm not as full of myself as you are."

When he got no response he looked back at Eiri to find that his companion had closed his eyes.

Shuichi's expression immediately softened and he reached over to brush some the hair away from Eiri's face.

"Tired?"

"Yes. Being around you is wearisome." Eiri responded bluntly.

"You really are a complete bastard sometimes." Shuichi retorted with a scowl.

"So I've been told. Several times, actually."

"Well." Shuichi began with a cheerful smile. "Doesn't mean I still don't love you!"

Eiri just stared at him blankly for a moment. "I'm going to sleep. So shut up or leave."

Not feeling tired in the least, Shuichi gave his love a goodnight kiss and left the room.

"You and my brother seem close." Shuichi jumped at the voice, not expecting anyone to be outside the door. Whirling around, he saw Tatsuha leaning against the wall looking at him with a very serious expression. It still irked him how similar the two brothers were in appearance.

"I…guess you could say that." Shuichi said hesitantly. His mother had given him a small lecture before he left explaining that he shouldn't do anything to make his relationship with Eiri obvious.

"You guess? Please. I saw you guys together one night." Shuichi froze, completely at a loss for words. Tatsuha continued. "Yeah, I was taking a message to him from father. I knocked but apparently you guys were way too distracted to notice."

Shuichi's face went from pale to red in a matter of seconds. "You won't—I mean—are you going to…"

"Tell? Let's see…" Tatsuha looked severly thoughtful for a while before breaking into sudden peals of laughter. "Sorry, sorry. I just couldn't help it, you're too easy to scare."

Shuichi's head tilted in confusion. "So…you didn't see us?"

"No. I did. But really, I could care less. If my brother's happy then what the hell. Just don't let my old man know, that would not go over so well." Shuichi smiled, he liked this guy.

"Thanks."

"Yeah, yeah. Now come on, let's go explore. I'm bored out of my mind already and it's not like I can ask my dad to entertain me."

-xXx-

Eiri was still asleep when Shuichi returned, so quietly as possible, he snuck in and slipped under the covers, promising himself that he'd wake up before anyone could walk in on them.

It was sometime around midmorning the following day that either of them stirred.

"Hey. Stupid." Eiri started, poking Shuichi in the head until he woke up.

"Hm?"

"You really going to continue sneaking into my room like this? What if father decides to come and see me."

Shuichi closed his eyes, not yet wanting to be awake. "Then he'll probably just send Tatsuha again."

"Again? Wait, don't tell me, Tatsuha knows." Shuichi just nodded against his Eiri-pillow.

"Oh well…You hungry?"

Shuichi very hesitantly nodded again. He _was_ quite hungry, but the last thing he wanted to do was move.

"I'll go get us some food then." He said, easing himself away from Shuichi and getting out of the bed.

"Want help?" Shuichi offered, more out of concern for Eiri's remaining injuries than any real desire to assist him.

"No, I'll be back soon."

Shuichi nodded and closed his eyes again. About 20 minutes later Shuichi was starting to get worried; just how long did it take to go and get food? It wasn't as if anything bad could have happened—they were on an isolated ship, right?

As if on cue, a loud crash and raised voices alerted Shuichi to the fact something must have gone very wrong outside. The series of gunshots and screams that followed only served to solidify that conjecture.

He threw open the door, fully intent on tracking down Eiri and making sure he was safe—not to mention finding out what the hell was going on—when a strong arm grabbed his waist and hauled him back into his room.

"Let go!" Shuichi yelled, squirming around and attempting to elbow or kick his captor.

"Hey! Watch it now!" An amused voice said into his ear. "Is that really anyway to treat a friend?"

Shuichi's struggles immediately came to a halt. "Eric?"

"The one and only!" He said, releasing Shuichi who immediately turned around to hug the brunette.

"What are you doing here?" Shuichi asked once he finally let go. "Oh god, you aren't actually attacking this ship, are you?"

"Ummm. That's a bit of a gray area. And anyway, we really don't have a lot of time so I need you to listen…"

-xXx-

Eiri made his way back to his cabin, mildly excited to be able to relax in his own space on his own ship once again. The "abduction" had gone rather well as far as he was concerned. True, his brother and father would think he had been killed which he felt kind of bad about. Maybe he would send them a letter eventually. And Shuichi. If anyone were to figure it out, it would be him…maybe. The blonde himself felt a little sad at the thought of never seeing the pink-haired boy again. Being able to stay with that brat was the one reason he had almost called off the whole thing and obediently gone with his family back to London.

But there was no way he could have lived there and he couldn't have asked Shuichi to come with him; he knew that stupid idiot would have agreed in an instant, but he also feared that he would have soon come to regret his decision for any number of reasons. Perhaps, someday, he would go and track him done. Once everything had blown over.

"Oh well." He said to himself. "What's done is done." He opened the door to his living quarters, smiling softly at the familiar objects that filled the room. Everything was in it's—

"What in the nine-layers of hell are you doing here?" Eiri sputtered, staring in shock at Shuichi who was glaring at him from across his own desk.

"Who me?" Shuichi asked, putting on an air of innocence. "I'm just a hostage."

"Sure you are. None of my crew would be stupid enough to let you back on this ship much less into my chambers without my permission so how did you get here?"

Shuichi just shrugged and grinned.

Eiri stared at Shuichi searchingly and, after a moment, stated: "It was Eric, wasn't it?"

Shuichi's smile dropped for a brief second in his surprise at Eiri's astuteness. "Perhaps. Or perhaps I just sensed your intent and made my way here on my own."

"Highly unlikely; your intelligence is a little too lacking for you too be that perceptive. And anyway, what on earth makes you think that I even wanted you to come along?"

Shuichi bit his lip; apparently Eiri had touched on the one subject Shuichi wasn't sure about. "Well…you were willing to take a bullet for me—two, actually." He said softly. "I'm hoping that counts for something."

"Maybe I just didn't want your family thinking I had anything bad to do with the situation." Eiri stated before he could stop himself. He felt more than a little guilty when he saw the insecure look cross over Shuichi's face, but couldn't quite think of a way to amend his actions.

"I know you find me irritating sometimes," Shuichi said finally. "And I know I tend to mess things up, but I promise to try and help! I'll stay out of your way this time, Eiri, I really will—"

"Yuki." The blonde corrected.

"Huh?" Shuichi asked, confused at the interruption.

"As long as I'm—we're— on this ship, it's Yuki. And quit your babbling, it's annoying…and anyway, I have no problem with you staying." Shuichi instantly closed his mouth. After a long moment he opened it again.

"Then why didn't you ask me to come with you?"

"Maybe I didn't want—" Yuki cut himself off before he said anything more he might regret. "I didn't want to feel like I had forced you to come."

"Didn't you hear me all those times I told you I loved you? I promise, I meant it." Shuichi said with a pout. Yuki's mouth quirked up in a tiny smile, suddenly wondering how he had ever thought Shuichi would have opted to stay behind.

"Fair enough. But if you decide you miss your family then that's too damn bad, you're finding your own way home."

Shuichi grinned and stepped closer so he could take hold of Yuki's hands. "Fair enough."

Yuki slipped his hand out of Shuichi's and wrapped his arms around his slender lover, twisting a hand into silky pink locks and kissed Shuichi, gently at first and intensifying it as he maneuvered them closer to the bed.

The back of Shuichi's legs hit the bed first and he fell away from Yuki with a startled yelp, not having been fully aware that they had moved at all.

"When did you do that?" He cried in bewilderment.

"The boat must have rocked." Yuki replied with a small smirk and a shrug. Shuichi gave the blonde an unconvinced look but slid back onto the pillows to let him up onto the bed in exchange for another kiss.

"I love you." Shuichi breathed once Yuki pulled away for a moment.

Yuki nuzzled Shuichi's neck and placed kisses along his collarbone, smiling slightly when he felt Shuichi shiver beneath him. "I'm glad you're here, brat…I love you too."

"What did you say?" Shuichi asked, opening amethyst eyes to stare into golden ones, face slightly flushed.

"You heard me." Yuki retorted with a scowl.

"Say it again! Please?" Shuichi pleaded, tugging on Yuki's arm only to be shrugged off.

"Hell no. If you didn't hear me then that's your fault."

"But Yu—" The blonde in question quickly cut Shuichi off with a kiss, locking his fingers into pink hair and using his other hand to tease the smooth skin along the waist of his pants and toy with the fastenings.. After spending so long sleeping next to his brat and not being able to properly touch him due to injury or the high potential of unwanted family intrusion, Yuki felt he might go mad if he didn't act now. Even so…

Yuki stopped, momentarily regaining control of his logical side.

"Shu?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you feel ok about this?"

Shuichi blushed and nodded, throat suddenly too dry to say anything.

"Good. That's the answering I was hoping for."

-xXx-

"Hey Yuki?" Shuichi ventured as he was about to doze off into sleep. "What are you going to do after all of this?"

"After what?" Yuki asked.

"This whole pirate thing."

Yuki sighed and flipped onto his back, lying next to Shuichi on the bed. "I…suppose I'll take some money and settle down somewhere warm. On a coast. Preferably without a lot of people around."

"Why? So no one recognizes you?"

"Among other things." Yuki said with a soft smirk, running his fingers through Shuichi's hair.

"Won't you be bored?"

"With you around? I doubt it. Besides, I've been thinking of writing down some of these stories. I imagine that will take a while."

Shuichi smiled to himself, flushing warmly at the thought of Yuki including him in his future plans without any prompting. "Will I be in them?"

"Of course. You'll be the annoying brat that always messes everything up."

"Yuki!"

"What? Did you have another role in mind?"

"Love interest?" Shuichi offered rolling up to lean over Yuki.

Yuki pulled Shuichi down for a quick kiss. "I'll consider it."

-xXx-

Finished. Um. It's late. I'm tired. And I'm too lazy to ever find a beta reader, so any mistakes—typos/grammar—that you find, please point them out. I don't care how small they are. Otherwise hope you guys enjoyed the story, I had a lot of fun writing it and I hope that showed through.

And to everyone who reviewed, you guys are amazing!

LoveLove!

Rajanakhi


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